
n 



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«3 



Pastors : 

JOHN BRACKENRIDGE - - - - 1809-1818. 

REUBEN POST -------- 1810-1837. 

WILLIAM M( LAIN ------ 1837-1840. 

CHARLES RICH ------- 1840-1843. 

WILLIAM T. SPROLE ----- 1844-1847. 

ELISHA BALLENTINE ----- 1847-1851. 

BYRON SUNDERLAND - - - - 1853. 

ADOLOS ALLEN ------- 1894. 

T. DeWITT TALMAGE ----- 1895. 



eiders 



ELIAS B. CALDWELL, 
JOHN COYLE, 
GEORGE BLAGDEN, 
HENRY HILLMAN, 
JAMES MOORE, 
EZEKIEL YOUNG, 
THOMAS PATTERSON, 
ANDREW COYLE, 
JOHN KENNEDY, 
JOHN SHACKFORD, 
JOHN COYLE, Jr., 
JOHN G. WHITWELL, 
WM. H. CAMPBELL, 
DANIEL CAMPBELL, 
LEONID AS COYLE, 

THEO. P. 



isaac s. miller, 
alexander speer, 
john douglass, 
otis c. wight, 
thomas j. johnston, 
horace j. frost, 
francis h. shith, 
octavius knight, 
george b. patch, 
Nicholas Dubois, 
wm. a. sutphin, 
richard w. carter, 
f. b. dalrymple, 
edward g. church, 
alfred lockhart, 

SARGENT. 




1812 



Qrder of €xerci$e$: 

Sabbath Morning, November 17th. 

■Historical Sermon. 

REV. BYRON SUNDERLAND, D. D. 

Monday Evening, November 18th. 

Rev. A. W. Pitzer, D. D., presiding. 
Presbyterianism and the Nation. 

Rev. CHARLES L. THOMPSON, D. D., LL. D. 

New York City. 
• • ^ • • 

Tuesday Evening, November igth. 

Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D. D., presiding. 

Presbyterians and Education, 

Rev. HENRY M. MacCRACKEN, D. D., LL. D. 
Chancellor of the University of the City of New York. 



Wednesday Evening, November zoth. 

Rev. George O. Little, D. D., presiding. 
Presbyterianism and the District of Columbia. 

Rev. B. F. BITTINGER, D. D. 
Hon. JOHN W. FOSTER. 
Rev. J. G. BUTLER, D. D. 

• • ^ • • 

Friday Evening, November 2%d. 

•RECEPTIO/N. 

7.30 to 10.30 P. M. 




7* 



3 



TsJie /bttoivint? document t A rows /iy/it upon the 

BEGINNINGS OF P*RESSyT£*Rl AN ISM 
IN WASHINGTON. 



. the records of the Presbytery of Baltimore 
ars that on April 30, 1794, Rev. John Brack - 
3 was licensed, and on April 29, 1795, he re- 
a call from " The Churches in Washington," 
;mall bands of believers who met for worship 
>ut any formal organization and inclnding set- 
th ents outside the present city limits — a city 
without houses. 

In 1795, June 24, order was taken for the ordi- 
nation and installation of Mr. Brackenridge as 
pastor. In 1801, certain irregularities having been 
reported to Presbytery, Mr. Brackenridge was 
cited to appear and furnish satisfactory reasons 
for the same ; but failing to appear he was again 
cited before a meeting held in Georgetown, D. C, 
April, 1802. At this meeting he appeared and 
* leaded ill health as the cause of misunderstand- 
ing and requested the dissolution of his pastoral 
relation. 

The congregation was cited to appear before 
^resbytery to show reason, if any, why the request 
diould not be granted ; no person appearing at a 
meeting on April 26, 1802, the relation was dis- 
solved. In 1809 the Presbytery, at a meeting held 
October 27, in Alexandria, appointed Mr. Bracken- 
ridge to labor as a missionary for three months in 



Bladensburg, Maryland, and Washington City, and 
in 1810 he was appointed supply of Washing- 
ton City and Bladensburg. In 1812, at the request 
of the First Church, Washington City, Mr. Brack - 
enridge wrote a sketch of the rise and progress o; 
the Church, but omitted all the foregoing facts 
which, had they been known, would have settle 
the question of priority raised by Rev. Dr. Lauri 
after his congregation had joined the Presbyter 
of the District of Columbia. Dr. Laurie's congre 
gation erected the first building, but Mr. Bracken- 
ridge had the first organization, and for the want 
of a suitable building was under the necessity of 
using a carpenter's shop erected for the workmen 
employed in the building of the President's House. 
In 1793, when this building was demolished, the 
congregation worshipped in a farm house now St. I* 
Patrick's Roman Catholic Church. 

The enterrjrise was greatly weakened by the ef- 
Iforts made by Dr. Laurie in the formation of a 
church under his ministrations. After this time the 
congregation worshipped in " The Academy East," 
the only house that could be obtained and in which 
they met every three weeks. It was not long be- 
fore steps were taken for the erection of a church 
building and the following persons appointed a 
committee to have the matter under their care : 
Messrs. George Blagden, Elias B. Caldwell, John 
Coyle, John McClelland and Daniel Rapine. The 
enterprise received great and unexpected encour- 
agement. In the meantime permission was granted 




* the congregation to hold worship in the old Capitol, 
Mr. Brackenridge still laboring a part of his time 
in Rockville and in Bladensburg. The new house 
of worship was occupied for the first time June 20, 
1812, the dedication sermon being preached by 
Rev. Mr. Brackenridge from Luke, 19 : 9. At a 
meeting of the congregation held January, 1813, 
Mr. Brackenridge was called and on July 4, 1814, 
was installed pastor of the church, continuing as 
such until May, 1818. Mr. Brackenridge died in 
1844 in the seventy-fifth year of his age. The 
church was supplied successively by Rev. John 

* McKnight and Rev. John Clark. 

In April 19, 1819, Mr. Reuben Post was called as 
pastor and installed June 24, of the same year. 

On the 10th of April, 1827, the corner stone of 
the present edifice was laid. The church was ded- 
icated December 9, 1827 — the sermon preached by 
the pastor was from Haggai, 2. 

Rev. Dr. Post was released from his pastorate 
January 24, 1836. He died September 24, 1858. 
Rev. Addison Mines supplied the church until 
December, 1836, when Mr. William McLain was 
elected pastor ; installed January 11, 1837 ; rela- 
tion dissolved June 9, 1840. In November, 1840, 
Mr. Charles Rich, Licentiate, was ordained and 
. installed pastor. The relation was dissolved July 
13, 1843. In November 27, 1843, Rev. William F. 
Sprole was installed pastor ; relation dissolved 
April 2, 1847. 



The church was supplied by Presbytery until 
March 1, 1848, when, Rev. Elisha Ballantyne was 
installed pastor. The relation was dissolved July 
21, 1852. Rev. James Gallagher supplied the 
church until December, 1852, when Rev. Byron 
Sunderland, D. D., was called, and continues the 
pastor to the present time. 

In 1859 the church was enlarged and re-construc- 
ted, making it one of the largest if not the largest 
Protestant church building in the city. 

At the first recorded meeting of the Session there 
were present (September 15, 1812) ; 

Rev. John Brackenridge and ruling elders John 
Coyle, Charles B. Caldwell, George Blagden. 

Mr. Laurie, installed over F Street Church, 1803 ; 
house built afterwards, but no date given. 

Came under control of Presbytery of District of 
Columbia, June 14, 1824, but in 1839 transferred to 
Presbytery Baltimore — afterwards set off to Pres- 
bytery of Potomac — again in 1869 united with other 
churches in Washington City Presbytery. 

Dr. Sunderland was installed Thursday evening 
7.30 o'clock, April 21, 1853. 

Dr. Heacock of Buffalo, 1ST. Y., preached the ser- 
mon ; J. R. Eckard, charge to jmstor ; Mason Noble, 
charge to people ; Samuel Washburn, Moderator. 

Rev. Adolos Allen was installed as co-pastor 
April 17, 1894, and resigned February 3, 1896. 

Rev. Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage was installed co- 
pastor October 23, 1895. 



CENTENNIAL SERMON, 

By Rev, Dr. Byron Sunderland. 
Pastor of the Church. 



Ps. 87:3. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O, City of God ! 

The city. This is the heart of the world. It has 
been so with the great Capitals of all nations, those 
now buried beneath the dust of ages, and those 
still standing, out of which pours the life-blood of 
the times to the remotest corners of the earth. 

Piety and Patriotism forever, both love and laud 
their seat of Government whether in church or 
state. The home of Religion and the Capital of a 
nation, in the blended story of their beginning and 
progress have never ceased to kindle the most thrill- 
ing emotions in every mind susceptible of exalted 
conceptions. 

It was so at Jerusalem in the time of the first 
Kings. There was the center of God's worship and 
the famous capital of the Hebrew Nation, and there 
in the great festivals which celebrated the wonders 
of their history, the majestic choir of Tabernacle and 
Temple x>oured out this song of Triumph, " Glorious 
things are spoken of thee, O, City of God." Yes, 
it was the city of God, destined to have such a his- 
tory as no other city on the face of the globe ever 
had or can have. These words booming from 
Strophe to anti-Stroj)he through the wide air, gave 



2 



voice to the feeling of immense multitudes, rapt 
by the spirit of grateful adoration. It has often 
been so among the generations of men ! 

It is so with us to-day. For now we begin to 
commemorate the founding of our city and of that 
line of religious evolution in Washington from 
which we trace the development of this old church 
back through a hundred years. 

Presbyterian Christianity was early in this region, 
as the churches of our order at Hyattsville and 
Georgetown bear witness, and as one church closely 
akin, but not then associated with us, organized 
in Washington a few years before our own, also 
attests. 

Tradition, clear and undisputed, couples this 
church and the Capitol in their founding and pro- 
gress. The story of the city is no Greek or Roman 
fable. Prior to the coming of the colonists this 
place was called Tohoga, the seat of an Indian 
Emperor or Sachem. Here dwelt the ISTacostians, 
whose neighbors were the Monacans and Powha- 
tans. Their council fires were lighted on yonder 
hill. But their feuds are ended. They vanished 
before the pale-face like a vision of the night. A 
new order from beyond the sea began to displace 
the Amphictyon of Savage Life. Lines of survey 
were traced here more than two hundred years ago. 
Patents came out through the monarchs of England 
for Pinner, Langworth, Troop and Francis Pope, 
who seeing that his name was Pope, aspired to be 
equal to the Pope and gave to his estate and the 



3 



stream that laved it, the august names of Rome and 
the Tiber. His prophecy which lingered around the 
Hill for a hundred years was then to be fulfilled. 

In 1793, the first corner-stone of that structure 
which now looks down upon us in more than Roman 
majesty was laid. From the spot now covered by 
its dome spread out in those first years of the city, 
the lands of the then proprietors, on one side de- 
clining to the river's brink, on the other, expanding 
in copse and forest away to the circling hills. 

There are the hamlets of Hamburgh and Carrolls- 
burgh, there is Duddington pasture, there the house 
of Daniel Carroll, yonder of Notley Young and 
yonder still of David Burns. There are the uplands 
and the orchards and the old burial places of the 
dead. The lark springs up from the dewy corn 
with his morning song, the plover sends out his 
nightfall whistle from yonder sedge. In many a 
footpath, by many a spring, the children wander, 
searching the wild fruit and waking their echoes in 
the deep woods. Sportsmen haunt the shores of 
Anaeostia, whose rude old wharfs scarce break the 
shoals and water courses that crowd over the track 
of Pennsylvania avenue and end away in "the 
Northern Slashes." 

All this in a scene of rural loveliness, which then, 
as now, beamed from Prosx>ect Hill, from the Heights 
of Georgetown, from distant Arlington, and from 
the moonlight sheen of waters laughing to the sea. 

Years before, Washington had fixed his eye upon 
this site for the seat of government. The action of 



4 



Congress looking to this end, began in 1790. Mary- 
land and Virginia followed it with appropriate 
enactments. Terms of cession were agreed upon, 
and on April 15th, 1791, the first corner-stone of 
the District was set up below Alexandria, with fit- 
ting ceremonies, and in the great concourse, the 
minister of the Cross offered up to Almighty God 
the prayer of the infant Republic. The soil thus 
outlined was thenceforth consecrated to the caiise 
of American Independence and the Religion of 
Jehovah. 

In 1792, the corner-stone of the Executive Mansion 
was laid, and it was a whole decade before the struc- 
ture was completed. There in the heart of the for- 
est a carpenter's shop was erected, and there for 
years it stood a shelter for the workmen in summer's 
heat and winter's snow. 

In September of the following year, Washington 
came to lay the corner-stone of the Capitol. On 
that memorable day he was attended by a procession 
with fife and drum, winding their way on a fallen 
tree across the Tiber amid the oaks and underbrush 
to the elected spot. That scene was the presage of 
all that followed. The old roads gave place to new 
made streets, the marshes receded, the evening lights 
grew thicker, the bloom of urban life was gathering 
to the flower just bursting from the shadow of the 
wilderness. The times of Adams and Jeiferson suc- 
ceeded. There were already three thousand souls. 
The Congress came in 1800, and two years after the 
City of Washington was incorporated. Municipal 



5 



functions were assumed, and the Metropolis was 
fairly launched on her pathway of renown. The 
fathers of the city came, the physicians, the lawyers 
and the judges came, the noble artists came, the 
inventors and men of genius came and their mag- 
nificent works are all before us. Time and space 
would fail me to trace the growth of the city to 
what we see it now, or to name the glorious men 
who have made it what it is. 

' 'Glorious things are spoken of thee, O, City of 
God! " It is surely to-day the favorite city of all 
true Americans, beautiful for situation, the joy of 
the whole nation, can we add the words, " O City of 
God!" In what sense is it the u City of God!" 
His divine protection has ever been over it. On one 
occasion only was God's shield withdrawn and 
that but for a day and a night when it felt the rav- 
age of the Minion troops of England, to be followed 
speedily by the death-dealing guns at Baltimore 
and Ft. McHenry, which gave us the immortal ode 
of Francis S. Key, "The Star Spangled Banner ! " 

It is the City of God in this, that at the very be- 
ginning, from the North, the East, the South (for 
then there was no West) God's own people came 
here, as to their new Jerusalem, religious families, 
men and women who had been trained in the var- 
ious Christian denominations, and who brought with 
them their convictions and predelictions. Among 
these religionists, were the Presbyterians, some from 
the churches of Makamie the father and founder 
of straight Presbyterianism in this country, and 



6 



some from the cliurch of the Covenanters, under the 
title of u The Philadelphia Synod of the Associate 
Reformed Presbyterian Church." The General 
Assembly of the Makamie churches was organized 
in 1788 and comprised by far the larger portion of 
those who professed the Presbyterian faith. 

When these families arrived in Washington they 
found no churches of their order within the limits 
of the city. They had no Pastors, no church organ- 
izations, no stated religious services, which they 
sadly missed and for which they could only substi- 
tute irregular meetings when some traveling minis- 
ter or missionary could be procured to conduct them. 

Under these conditions the Presbyterians of 
Washington, uniting in their efforts, procured the 
use of the carpenter's shop in the grounds of the 
White House where they first assembled for religi- 
ous worship in 1795. From time to time they met 
there, until the shop, no longer needed, was torn 
down, and they were obliged to seek another place 
of worship. 

There is in existence an old deed giving to the 
" Calvin Society " a lot of ground adjoining the site 
of the old German Lutheran Church, now standing 
in the first ward of the city. For some reason un- 
known to me, it certainly was never appropriated 
by our people, if they ever had any title to it, and 
it remains to this day in the use and possesion of 
the German Church. Their next place of worship 
was a frame building, used also for a school, on F 
street, near the corner of Tenth street N. W. 



7 



About this time the Covenanter portion of the peo- 
ple withdrew and in 1803 organized what was long 
known as the " F Street Church," under the pastoral 
care of the Rev. Dr. James Laurie, and in connec- 
tion with the Associate Reformed Synod of Phila- 
delphia. The building is now known as " Willard 
Hall." 

The remaining party of the Presbyterians in 
Washington were those who had come from churches 
in connection with the Presbyterian General Assem- 
bly and, though without formal organization, which 
accounts for the absence of permanent records for 
the first fourteen years of their history, they still 
clung together, as the facts have surely been handed 
down to us upon the testimony of many of the 
early members of this church, some of whom were 
active participants in the Presbyterian movements 
of that period, and from whose lips I personally 
received the account more than forty years ago. 

On leaving the F street building they removed to 
the " Academy East," in the vicinity of the Navy 
Yard, because in those days it was expected that 
the bulk of the growing city would be eastward of 
the Capitol, and because the requirements of the 
Navy Yard had already drawn to that section a 
considerable colony of people from whom they 
hoped to augment their numbers and extend their 
usefulness. 

When, however, the Capitol had been so far ad- 
vanced as to provide a basement room for the ses- 
sions of the Supreme Court of the United States, 



8 



our fathers obtained permission to hold their Sab- 
bath service in that place, and there the Lord's 
Supper was first administered. 

Later on they determined to seek, through the 
Presbytery of Baltimore, a church organization and 
to erect an edifice for public worship. The site 
chosen was near the Pennsylvania avenue ascend- 
ing the hill just south of the Capitol. The first 
earth was turned for the new building by John 
Coyle, one of the first elders of this church. His 
daughter, Mrs. Whitwell, then a little girl, de- 
scribed to me the scene. The ground was then 
broken into steep hillocks and spurs and covered 
with a growth of saplings, vines, and underbrush. 
There, one evening in the solitude just as the set- 
ting sunlight flashed upon the autumn foliage, 
lighting up a fiame of gorgeous colors, might be 
seen a man with head uncovered ; by his side his 
little daughter and a stout-bodied colored man, 
spade in hand, on which he reverently leaned. 
Then the voice of prayer rose fervently to the God 
of the Covenant for a benediction on that spot and 
the use to which it should be put. The prayer 
ended, the master took the spade and struck it in 
the ground and turned over the first soil where the 
corner-stone was laid of the "little white Chapel 
under the hill." Some of its wall are still standing 
but buried out of sight by the subsequent grading 
there. The building was dedicated in 1812, at the 
beginning of our second war with England. 



9 



From that date, the permanent records of the 
church appear. The nucleus that met in the car- 
penter's shop in 1795, and had been a nebulous and 
nomad body of Christians began to take a local 
habitation and a name. About the year 1811, it 
was formally organized by the Presbytery of Balti- 
more under the title of " The First Presbyterian 
Church of Washington, D. C, having for its first 
pastor, the Rev. John Brackenridge, whose grave 
remains to this day by that of his wife in a beauti- 
ful field of the " Old Soldiers' Home." 

But in truth, it must be said, the church was 
never chartered and' fully organized as it is this 
day, till 1868 — when to the Session a Board of 
Deacons and a Board of Trustees were added, filling 
out the requirements of the written law of the 
church in every particular, by its form of govern- 
ment, its Directory of worship and its Society, Con- 
stitution and By-Laws. It is the first charter 
granted by Congress to any church in this city or 
District. 

In the process of time, the growth of the city to 
the west and north, and that also of the congrega- 
tion induced the removal to our present site. The 
records of this undertaking read like a romance. 
The first building erected here, was dedicated to 
the service of Almighty God in December, 1827, 
the then Pastor, Rev. Dr. Reuben Post, preaching 
the sermon. It was a day of great rejoicing in the 
history of the church. 

After many years the space again became too 
narrow, and in 1860, the present auditorium was 



10 



constructed above the old one, now the lecture- 
room. The front of the building was changed, and 
it was re-dedicated in December of that year. The 
venerable Dr. Gardiner Spring, of New York, 
preached the dedication sermon, the last public 
service he ever rendered outside his own city. In 
the afternoon the Rev. Dr. Charles Reed, of Rich- 
mond, Virginia, preached a sermon, and in the 
evening, the Rev. Dr. Jenkins, of Philadelphia, 
delivered the closing discourse. It was one of the 
whitest days in our annals. 

The church edifice, as it then was, remained 
almost untouched for thirty-two years. It 
much needed renovation, which occurred in 1892. 
The building as it appears to-day was the result, 
and in November of that year it was again dedi- 
cated. The historical discourse on that occassion 
was delivered to a large concourse of the members 
and friends of the church in the city. 

That sermon was subsequently published, not 
without a few errors, and some lack of authentic 
records, but in the main it may be regarded as a 
detailed and truthful statement of the origin and 
life of this Mother church of Presbyterianism in the 
Capital of the Republic. 

It is not my present purpose to recite those details 
so recently exhibited, but from what has now been 
said the public may understand the significance of 
this Centennial, and the reasons of its adoption, 
and of this commemoration. 

In 1795 the only churches of our order, near us, 



11 



were the church at Hyattsville and that in George- 
town. 

The pioneers of this church first held religious 
meetings in the city in 1795. 

This church received its title as the First church 
in connection with the Presbyterian General Assem- 
bly, organized in Washington, whereas it was not 
till 1823 that the " F Street Church " became a con- 
stituent of the same Assembly. 

This church, as it is now seen, has been an evolu- 
tion church, solidifying gradually from the concre- 
tions of a hundred years, and marking the begin- 
ning of Presbyterianism here, but it has never at 
any time gone back from its polity, doctrine or 
discipline. We have sometimes been represented as 
almost too deep a blue for the current public thought 
of the world, and as standing so straight that we 
bend over backward. But there is nothing in all 
this for which we need to blush in an age so rife 
with frantic efforts to eliminate all trace of the 
supernatural from the works and word of God. 

From this church has gone forth a great company 
to proclaim salvation throughout the circuit of the 
earth, devoted men and women, missionaries of the 
Cross, preachers, teachers, lawyers, physicians, 
soldiers, sailors, ministers of State, noble souls born 
here and born again into the everlasting kingdom 
of our God and of His Christ. Some are living still, 
some are now active in other spheres, in other 
churches here, and elsewhere throughout the length 
of Christendom. 



12 



And then the clond of the glorified that first and 
last have gone up from these courts after all the 
toil and prayer, after the tenderness of this earthly 
communion, the thrilling touch of heart to heart, of 
ordinance and rite and privilege and opportunity, 
in smiles and tears — gone up through the gates of 
the Eternal City into the transcendant splendors of 
the celestial life ! How many have long been gone, 
and some have left us only as it were but yesterday ! 
And here we stand gazing after them into heaven, 
crying out with Tennyson, 

" Oh, for the touch of a vanished hand, 
The sound of a voice now still." 

The foot-stones of this church have been worn by 
the tread of the great figures in our history, by the 
diplomats of many countries, by statesmen and law- 
yers, by senators and judges, by presidents and by 
cabinets, by warriors and chieftains on land and 
sea, and by the American people from every city 
and country-side, and by travellers from foreign 
lands in every quarter of the globe. For a hundred 
years we have been in contact with the moving 
masses of humanity in storm and sunshine, in peace 
and war, and who can compute the emanation of 
public and private influence from this watch tower 
of Zion, reaching to all classes of society, touching 
all questions of truth and justice, of purity and 
honor, so deeply involving the welfare of mankind, 
so sternly attesting the supreme virtue of that old 
" faith which was once delivered to the saints." 



13 



JSTow, when a hundred years have passed since 
they first met in the carpenter's shop, perchance 
a similitude of the very booth where the great Head 
of the church and the Savior of men spent so much 
of His early manhood, shall we not mark the cir- 
cumstance with every demonstration of Christian 
joy ? 

"Glorious things are spoken of thee, O, City of 
God" ! The supreme glory of our Capital to-day, 
as it has been from the first, shines out in its Chris- 
tian churches and the schools and multiplied ele- 
mosynary institutions they have fostered. More 
than marble or bronze, more than all the parks and 
decorations, more than all the proud monuments of 
art and architecture, more than all the triumphs of 
mind over matter of which we are justly proud, are 
these temples of Religion which make our city the 
city of God. Stern may be their morals, exacting 
their theology, puritanical their ideas, but these 
are the forces that have evermore made the men 
and women of the ages, the true patriots and phil- 
anthropists of the world, heroes and heroines for 
God and truth and righteousness, despite the jeers 
and ribaldry of mocking generations. 

From the first, this church has been related to 
the larger bodies of American Presbyterianism 
through the Presbytery, Synod and Assembly, a 
church polity from which in large measure, our 
Repulican form of Government is modeled. 

Presbyterianism was brought to this country 
chiefly from the British Islands, w r here the seed- 



14 



corn of it from Geneva had been plentifully scat- 
tered for a hundred years. It early took root in 
most of the colonies, for it is especially the religion 
of tempestuous and trying times. The persecuted 
Christians of Europe came here to find as one has 
said 4 ' a church without a bishop and a State with- 
out a king." But they brought with them at the 
same time their personal religious predilections. 
Out of these the American Protestant Church has 
reached the massive proportions of the present 
hour. Presbyterianism forms no exception to this 
great law of selection or election as we may choose 
to style it. 

At this moment there are two Presbyterian Gen- 
eral Assemblies in our country, the North and the 
South. These are the principal bodies of our order. 
There are several smaller bodies bearing the Presby- 
terian name, which time and circumstance have 
differentiated from the larger cults and from each 
other, some of them having exerted but a limited 
influence on the religion of our times. 

As this church is now and ever has been allied 
with those who are to-day represented in the North- 
ern Assembly, we may trace its connections through 
all the vicissitudes of the past down to the present 
hour. 

The session, the Presbytery, the Synod and 
Assembly are the four courts through which we 
operate and combine. The Session is the court of 
each individual Congregation; the Presbytery is a 
number of Sessions combined and the first court of 



15 



appeal, and the Synod is a number of Presbyteries 
combined and the second court of appeal, the 
Assembly is all the Synods combined and the final 
court of appeal, while the law-making power is 
lodged with the Presbyteries. 
4 The first Presbytery was formed in Philadelphia 
in 1705. In 1716 the first Synod was constituted. 
In the next quarter of a century dissensions arose 
from which two Synods resulted called the " Old 
side," and the "New side." In 1758 they came to- 
gether again. In 1788 our present Standards were 
adopted and the first General Assembly was con- 
stituted. In 1801 a Plan of union with the Con- 
gregationists was adopted, out of which grew in part 
the divisions of the "Old school" and the "New 
school " and again the church was divided in 1838. 
This church through its Presbytery adhered to the 
'New school" Assembly. 

By this time the question of slavery began to be 
seriously agitated, both in church and state. In 
the "Old school" assembly every effort was made 
to quiet the agitation. In the "New school" as- 
sembly it annually grew more violent till 1857, 
when the assembly met at Cleveland, Ohio. There 
the commissioners from twenty-seven southern 
Presbyteries seceded in a body and put forth a 
manifesto calling for a distinct and separate organi- 
zation, which, in the following summer, resulted in 
the Knoxville Synod. At that time this church, 
through its Presbytery, was a constituent of the 
Virginia Synod. In the autumn of that year the 



16 



Synod of Virginia, the majority of whom had gone 
into the new body formed at Knoxville, Tennessee, 
met in the Assembly's chnrch in this city, their 
aim being to force the churches of our Presbytery 
into the new alliance, or drive the pastors from 
their pulpits. It was at this point that the first 
serious trial of our church arose. Many of our 
congregation strongly sympathized with the new 
movement, but their pastor did not. There he ut- 
tered his first protest against church secession, and, 
though the final vote for it was overwhelming, his 
vote with two others only was recorded in the nega- 
tive. 

The excitement was intense. It continued till 
1866, culminating in the Douglass lecture. Look- 
ing back upon it now we wonder at our survival. 
The effect of this opposition, however, was to sus- 
pend our Presbytery from all outside ecclesiastical 
connection for the next five years. Four years 
later the gathering storm of civil war burst over us 
and in 1862 our Presbytery " of the District of Co- 
lumbia" was attached to the Synod of Philadelphia. 

The "Old school" Assembly held on its way and 
our city churches adhering to it, formed what was 
known as "The Presbytery of the Potomac." On 
the breaking out of the war the entire body of the 
southern churches separated from the " Old school" 
Assembly and effected, at Augusta, Georgia, the 
Southern Assembly as it is to-day. Not long after, 
the Knoxville Synod was merged in it, while the 
Presbytery of the Potomac adhered to the northern 
wing of the "Old school" church. 



17 



It was a period of intense agitation throughout the 
country, and for eight years more the two North- 
ern Assemblies pursued their work as a divided 
force. Time, however, was healing the breach be- 
tween them, and in 1869 their union was completed 
at Pittsburg, amid scenes of thrilling interest, never 
to be forgotten. The Pastor of this church was 
honored to share as the representative of our Presby- 
tery in those memorable proceedings. This event 
required a new arrangement of the higher courts, 
and in the following year the two Presbyteries of 
the District were combined under the title of " the 
Presbytery of Washington City," which thence 
forward became a constituent of the Synod of Bal- 
timore, and of the United Northern General Assem- 
bly. This is our relation at the present moment. 

To-day Georgetown is part of the City of Wash- 
ington, and as such, our one church there, is older 
in organization than our own. With this excep- 
tion, we are the first and only Presbyterian church 
which started with the foundation of the Capital 
and has preserved its unbroken continuity for a 
hundred years. 

During this commemoration you will hear from 
others the growth of Presbyterianism in our city 
and District. It is enough for me to say that our 
church has borne her part in making this Capital 
as the very city of God of which so many glorious 
things are spoken. The great churches of other 
orders have vied with her in the mighty mission of 
saving men, and their monuments, like our own, 



18 



are this day around us. We rejoice together in 
what has been accomplished for the cause of our 
common Master. Their congratulations are most 
welcome and most heartily reciprocated. God speed 
them all ! 

From the day of Timothy's ordination by the lay- 
ing on of the hands of the Presbytery, down through 
the centuries, the principle of the Presbyterian 
polity and the syllabus of doctrine derived from 
prophets and apostles have been perpetuated. 
This may be traced through the Waldensians of 
northern Italy and other kindred bodies, and 
through the Hugenots of France and the Culdees 
of North Britain down to the time of Calvin. 
Then it began to assume wider proportions and 
exert a more potent influence. At length its creed 
and its government were formulated in the West- 
minster Assembly sitting in the Jerusalem chamber 
from 1643 to 1649. From that date to this, it has 
remained substantially unmodified. It is true that 
various bodies bearing the Presbyterian name as 
well as some others carrying the Presbyterian prin- 
ciple, have separated from each other on some spe- 
cific point of difference. But taken together, they 
do at this moment, in numbers, intelligence, wealth, 
heart-religion and aggressive force, rival the very 
largest and most powerful Protestant bodies in 
the world. 

As to doctrine, it is conceded by all modern 
candid writers that the Westminster confes- 
sion with its catechisms is, on the whole, a 



19 



most complete, logical and scriptural formula of 
religious belief. It is true, the chapteron de- 
crees, has been violently assailed both from with- 
out and from within, and yet the late attempt 
to revise it, with all the new light and learning of 
our time utterly collapsed. Nor did the earlier at- 
tempts of Polemic theology against its alleged re- 
flection on the divine character and its binding 
human action in the most absolute fatalism, suc- 
ceed in substituting any theodicy which more 
clearly posits the relation of God to the universe 
He has made and over which He is assumed to pre- 
side, or which more successfully obviates the thous- 
and objections springing up to any theory which 
the finite mind of man has ever conceived. 

In every great religion there are always two 
phases appealing to human belief. There are doc- 
trines which concern human life and duty, and 
which are everywhere accepted in the general con- 
sciousness of their righteousness. This class of 
tenets is styled the exoteric doctrine, or those 
beliefs which comprise the essentials of salvation, 
human regeneration, righteousness of life and the 
divine favor both here and hereafter. These are 
simple and easy to be understood. But in addition 
to this there is a region of dogma relating to God 
and the universe, which it is impossible for a think- 
ing soul to evade, and which has absorbed the pro- 
foundest intellects in every age. These are called 
the esoteric doctrines, and should never be imposed 



20 



upon the mass of Christian believers by any coercion 
other than their free assent. 

Presbyterianism is still charged with holding the 
most repugnant views, and yet no church has been 
practically more free or broad or liberal. What she 
does insist upon is that her teachers shall agree as to 
the esoteric doctrines, but she holds no man account- 
able for any belief he may have outside of the plain 
conditions of membership and communion in the 
universal Catholic church of Christ. She rejects no 
one who accepts that class of tenets which relates 
to human life and conduct under the gospel dispen- 
sation, the same on which every genuine Christian 
body insists the world over. 

Modern Presbyterianism is held chargeable with 
a single murder in its entire career, while thousands 
upon thousands of its children have been put to 
death in the merciless storm of papal and prelatical 
persecution. That murder was the inevitable result 
of the spirit of the times, and which by the very 
rashness of its victim involved the great Calvin in 
its execution, though he had labored to prevent it 
by a solemn forewarning which was recklessly disre- 
garded. Conceive of the great Pilot of the Reforma- 
tion standing on the bridge of the Gospel Ship, to 
guide her in safety out of the perils of that dark Pa- 
pal ocean on which she was tossing like a cockshell. 
Athwart her course shot the barque of a single man, 
a self-made fugitive from every harbor in Europe. 
" Hold ! Ahoy there! there's danger ahead!" 
rang out the cry from the pilot. It was unheeded, 



21 



and the man was submerged in flames, while the 
trembling ship passed over him ! That pilot was 
John Calvin. 

Aside from this, Presbyterianism, has no history 
which needs the pity or the charity of posterity. 
On the other hand her service in the cause of 
humanity as against the exactions of despotism in 
church and state has been pre-eminent. True the 
events of thirty years ago, had carried the Southern 
Church into a separate organization, but they were 
events which involved the entire population of the 
country in the responsibility which was then 
assumed. Making therefore all abatements required 
by the truth of history, we may claim without fear 
of successful contradiction, that no portion of the 
Protestant Church, has rendered more valuable 
contributions to the cause of human welfare. 

Our church has everywhere stood for : 

The Bible as the revealed word of God and the 
only infallible rule of faith and practice. 

For the Divine Sovereignty and human account- 
ability. 

For the covenant of Grace, executed by Christ, 
the only Savior, and the Holy Spirit the only 
sanctifier of men. 

For the Christian Sabbath, as the great land-mark 
of Christian time, the legitimate successor of the 
Patriarchal and Jewish Sabbaths. 

We stand also for the two sacraments : Baptism 
by the sprinkling of water as a seal of God's cove- 
nant to believers and their children. The Lord's 



22 



Supper as a simple memorial, a bond of union a 
pledge of fidelity and a means of grace. 

For the parity of the clergy and the broadest 
evangelical fellowship. 

For the right and necessity of universal and 
through popular education. 

For the free research and investigation of human 
thought. 

For free speech and private judgment, regulated 
by law. 

For individual conscience and the liberty of the 

press. 

For civil government, "of the people, for the peo- 
ple and by the people" in both sexes. 

For the cause of temperance the world over. 

For purity in politics and public morals. 

For the uplifting and reformation of human 
society in all its grades of existence. 

For the spread of evangelism throughout the 
earth. 

For the dawn of that millennial day when all the 
kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdom 
of our Lord and of His Christ. 

It was from this platform that Frederick Doug- 
lass, the foremost orator of the colored race in his 
days, delivered his great lecture on the Assassina- 
tion of Lincoln, when there was no other roof in 
this city to shelter him. 

Presbyterianism is a representative government 
like that of our Republic, in many features of 
which, as I have said, they are similar. It is the 



23 



inspiration of patriotism and the firm pillar of all 
righteous administration. From the beginning it 
has ballasted our modern civilization in all the great 
emergencies of national vicissitude. 

Presbyterianism in America has stood as the fore- 
most breakwater of evangelism against the flood- 
tide of European sediment and speculation, and 
wider still, against the stream of more ancient and 
more distant conceptions of human destiny, and 
never, so long as the sun shines or the storms thun- 
der, shall her protest be wanting against the nebu- 
lous and uncertain theories which would destroy 
every vestige of the supernatural from off the face 
of the earth. 

Such is the service rendered by Presbyterianism 
to our country and the world. This old church 
has been in it for a hundred years, keeping equal 
pace with the Capital itself. May we not look 
back on it to-day with joy and wonder and with 
special thanksgiving to Almighty God ! " Glorious 
things are spoken of thee, O, City of God." 

From this watch-tower of Zion, we have looked 
out upon the marvellous spectacle of the nine- 
teenth century, a century of world wonders in the 
corridors of time. What an era in the life-time of 
our beloved church ! Our government came here 
in 1800. The Union was then but a narrow strip 
along the Atlantic coast. To-day it stretches 
across the fairest portion of the continent, spanned 
by Arctic snow and Southern gulf ! Then three 
millions, now sixty-five millions of people, dwell- 



24 



ing and delving amid marvels of nature beyond the 
imagination of man. What a tutelage in countless 
branches of enterprises developing conditions of 
life unknown to the fathers of the Republic, where 
transit and tidings out-speed the fleetest time and 
make the globe one neighborhood, where the great 
professions have advanced far beyond the lines of 
former triumphs, and professions before unheard 
of, are filling the mighty scale of human achieve- 
ments. Science is reaping fresh harvests from the 
limitless fields of nature. Literature and philos- 
ophy expatiate with a temerity of freedom, beyond 
the romantic wisdom of the ancients ; wealth and 
labor are rearing unrivalled monuments of civiliza- 
tion, where seats of learning and homes of benefac- 
tion transcend the fabled shrines and oracles of the 
past, where the problems of social and political 
economy are pressing for solution in such a school 
of human freedom as the sun never before looked 
down upon, where human life itself has been mag- 
nified and intensified in all directions, where the 
moral forces of a pure religion rooted in God's 
Bible, are clarifying and uplifting human society 
as never before in any generation, and where the 
omnipotent spirit of the ever-living God is breath- 
ing through the chaos of humanity, as once before 
" when the morning stars sang together, and all the 
sons of God shouted for joy ! " 

In this century the watchmen on this rampart of 
our Zion with all Americans have seen and felt the 
storm and ravage of foreign and civil war. In our 



25 



very midst two Presidents of the Republic have 
been slain by the red hand of the assassin. Great 
tragedies have been enacted here which have gone 
thrilling into every corner of the earth. Poets have 
sung with all the fervor of our patriotism ; orators 
have thundered in our Senate ; men of affairs have 
created a new world of physical conditions ; our 
national charter has survived the most terrific con- 
vulsions ; "The Star Spangled Banner," still un- 
soiled, gleams in every ray and floats on every breeze. 
We have seen the shackles fall from four millions 
of bondmen, and the rescue of our commerce from 
the wolf-dogs of the sea ; we have seen our national 
credit redeemed and our Union cemented and. con- 
secrated by the blood and sacrifice of two millions 
of our citizens ; we have seen the mastery of steam 
and lightning over time and space ; we have seen our 
educational system unfolding from the primitive 
school-house to the grand university ; we have seen 
the immeasurable power of the press untrammelled 
by any censorship ; we have seen the Samaritan of 
christian beneficence binding up the bruised body 
of unfortunate humanity and bearing it away to 
some hostlery of relief ; we have seen our young 
and puissant Republic rising to the foremost seat 
among the great powers of the world ; we have seen 
the annual festivals and local expositions of a 
proud and prospered people crowned by the nation's 
centennial, and, later, still by that world's exhibi- 
tion in the White City by the Lake. And still 
to-day is another in process in a fair city of the 



26 



South ; and, above all, we have seen that angel 
which hath the everlasting Gospel to preach to all 
people, making, in his wondrous flight, the whole 
circuit of the earth. How august has been the 
American arena, in the center of which we have 
stood ! What grand figures have moved across our 
stage ! What thrilling scenes have stirred all 
hearts with the comedy and the threnody of Ameri- 
can life ! May we not in truth exclaim, " Glorious 
things are spoken of thee, Oh City of God." 

Nor less have been the movements abroad in this 
same great period, too many and too mighty to be 
numbered here. Diplomacy, intrigue, oppression, 
rivalry, jealousy and bloody war among the nations, 
revolution, outbreak, the strong against the weak, 
patriot hope deferred, blood mingled with tears, 
the map of nations changed, hermit doors thrown 
open, empires passed away, Russian serfdom gone, 
the German States solidified in the heart of Europe, 
Italy unified, the Pope no longer a temporal sov- 
erign, France a Republic, Spain and Austria falling 
in the scale, Turkey the nest of a butchering relig- 
ion, and the rape of woman, deluding the mightiest 
kingdoms of Christendom, Japan accepting occiden- 
tal civilization, and but yesterday shaking the 
foundations of the oldest empire on the face of the 
globe, India a dependency of the British Crown — 
that unnatural mother England, I grieve to say, 
whose lust for power tramples on everything too 
weak to resist her arrogance, Africa so long a 
shrouded continent thrown open at last to the 



27 



rapacity of European gunnery and craft, and far- 
off Liberia — infant daughter of American philan- 
thropy, struggling upward to influence and power 
amid gigantic difficulties — violent tumults and 
bloody insurrections in the Central and South 
American states, many Islands of the sea re- 
claiming from barbarism and seeking some stable 
form of popular government, the ceaseless cabals 
of the Jesuites, the Mormon imposture, the strange 
mystery of modern spiritualism, the fanaticism and 
falsity of second Adventism, the fading away of the 
Indian aborigines, the violence and desperation of 
Nihilism and Anarchism, the revival of religious 
scepticism ; hand in hand with falsetto German 
scholarship, spreading the mildew of agnosticism 
and unbelief through all the senses of a materialistic 
generation ; the renewal of old theories of morality 
and religious faith, long since exploded ; the Mam- 
mon god, and title worship, luxury, idleness, ener- 
vation ; American womanhood sold out to the effete 
lordlings of the old world at the price of millions ; 
the monstrous liquor octopus with tenticles buried 
in the heart of humanity, and sucking away 
the very life-blood of the nations. All these things 
sapping out the very vigor and virility of human 
society, and the never-ceasing conflict of human 
thought and opinion, kindling contentions every- 
where, both in church and state. But thanks be to 
God, in it all and over it all we see the ceaseless 
preaching of the doctrines of the Nazarene, that 
divine and God-sent teacher of the human race, 



28 

Redeemer and Savior of mankind, once dead and 
buried, but now risen and ascended to the glory 
from which He came to be head over all things to 
the church the fulness of Him who filleth all in all, 
and whose saving grace this pulpit has never ceased 
to proclaim without reservation, omission or revision 
through all the century. 

Of all these things, this church has been a wit- 
ness, and of some of them has been a part. How 
vast the panorama and the spectacle. Out of this 
clock-tower of time no false alarm has ever issued. 
None have ever been misled who have sought coun- 
sel here. Let us rejoice together on this day of 
rejoicing. " Glorious things are spoken of thee, O, 
City of God." The nineteenth century is closing. 
What shall the twentieth reveal ? We know the 
past of our beloved church — what shall its future be ? 

I shall not live to see it. The day of my life is 
waning — my sun must soon go down. The work- 
men cease, but the work of God goes on. Con- 
scious that I have performed my little task so 
feebly — grateful that this church has borne me up 
so long, I must soon resign my part to those whom 
God in his great and merciful providence has so 
recently drawn into His ministration here. In all 
my personal experience in connection with this 
church nothing has been more grateful, nothing 
more hopeful, nothing for which I more earnestly 
and more devoutly thank my God and your God, 
than the coming to us just at this crisis, of a minister 
whom God has so. qualified and sealed for preaching 



29 



the everlasting gospel to all people. I am sure my 
younger yoke-fellow here most heartily joins me in 
this. It seems to me like a vision let down from 
heaven to cheer us as we close the present century 
and enter on the vast career of the coming years. 
It is to me, personally, the final sunburst of my 
evening sky, and I feel like saying with old Simeon, 
" Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace 
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation ! " 

In closing this reveiw I thank God for all his 
mercies, private and public, and for the privilege to 
look out once more upon this magnificent city and 
upon an undivided country, a marvellous people and 
an aggressive, ever vital, ever recuperative Christ- 
ianity, over whose future prospects I see frowning 
to-day, but one dark cloud. Amen. 



MONDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER iStb. 



Rev. A. W. PITZER, D. D. 

PRESIDING. 

Fellow Presbyterians : — With hearty good 
will and grateful appreciation I accepted your kind 
invitation to preside on this occasion and partici- 
pate in these observances. 

I belong to the youngest branch of the great 
Presbyterian family ; our corporate existence dates 
only from December, 1861, when the Southern Gen- 
eral Assembly came into being in Augusta, Georgia. 

I have never seen the time when I had any apology 
to make for being a Presbyterian. Not that I care 
for a name or a denomination "per se," but believ- 
ing as I do with all my soul that Presbyterian 
doctrine, polity and worship are fully and firmly 
founded on scripture ; nay more, that the Presbyter- 
ian Church is nearer the pattern given in God's word 
than any other, so far from apologizing for the 
Presbyterian Church or disparaging her confession 
or government, I rise up before God and men and 
call her blessed. 

Prior to 1861, your church was our church ; your 
faith, our faith ; your fathers, our fathers. In 
dogma, in tradition, in history, in blood we were 
one. For years T have advocated the warmest fra- 
ternity and the closest and most cordial co-operation 
in all Christian work. 



31 



At the General Assembly at Atlanta, Georgia, in 
1882, I inaugurated a movement for fraternity, and 
aided in formulating a basis on which such fraternity 
could stand with stability and honor ; that basis 
was in brief — "receding from no principle; but 
withdrawing all aspersions on Christian charac- 
ter." 

Had that fraternal olfer been adopted by the 
Springfield Assembly without the addition of the 
unfortunate "explanation" it is my own belief 
that before this day the reunion would have taken 
place on the basis of the concensus of the standards 
of the two bodies. 

But, brethern, after all we are one in the two great 
works committed to us by our Blessed Lord. Dr. 
W. M. Paxton in his sermon before the Presbyterian 
Council in Philadelphia, in 1880, speaking to the 
representatives of all the branches of the Presby- 
terian family in the world, called special attention 
to the fact, that this church was a "witnessing 
church." Our Lord says — " Ye are my witnesses." 
We testify for Him during the period of His bodily 
absence. We testify in our creeds, our confessions, 
our catechisms, in our lives, and this testimony has 
been heard in the flames, and it has been sealed 
with blood. Whenever and wherever the fire has 
been hottest and the conflict fiercest, there has been 
seen in the forefront the heroes and standard bearers 
of the bonnie blue flag. 

When Dr. Radcliffe was installed Pastor of 
New York Avenue Church, President Patton said 



32 



at the beginning of his sermon — "We Presbyterians 
are a ' preaching^ chnrch ; we believe in 'preach- 
ing.' " Others may magnify the altar, the ritual, the 
music, or something else; we magnify " preaching." 
That is our business ; that is what we stand for as 
a church in this lost world. It has pleased God 
that men shall be saved by the foolishness of 
li preaching. 

To bear witness then to the facts, the truths, the 
duties set forth in the infallibly inspired scriptures 
of the old and new Testaments ; and to do this by 
oral preaching is the glorious mission of the Pres- 
byterian branch of the Holy Catholic Church. Ye 
are witnesses unto me ; preach my Gospel. 

These anniversary exercises began yesterday with 
a masterly and magnificent historical address by the 
beloved pastor of this people who for forty-three 
years has gone in and out among us, honored of all 
for his steadfast devotion to the church of his 
choice. 

We have with us this evening one whose reputa- 
tion as a successful minister on the banks of the 
Missouri river reached across the continent to the 
Pacific and the Atlantic ; who was called to one of 
the leading churches in the great city of New 
York ; whose worth and services made him mod- 
erator and orator at the Centennial General As- 
sembly, and it is now my pleasure to introduce to 
this audience, Rev. Dr. Charles L. Thompson, 
pastor of Madison Avenue Church. 



PRESBYTERIANISM AND THE NATION, 

BY REV. CHARLES L. THOMPSON, D.D., 
OF NEW YORK CITY. 

Monday Evening, November 18th, 1895. 

The theme assigned to me for to-night is appro- 
priate to the place and the occasion. 

The one hundredth anniversary of Presbyterian- 
ism in this city furnishes us an appropriate occasion 
for looking back upon the beginnings of our church 
in this country, and the nation's capital, is surely 
not an inappropriate place from which to regard 
the relations which Presbyterianism sustains to the 
history of the nation. 

Years ago Mr. Herbert Spencer said, "It may, I 
think, be reasonably held that both because of its 
size and the heterogeneity of its components, the 
American nation will be a long time in evolving its ul- 
timate form, but that its ultimate form will be high. 
One result is, I think, tolerably clear. From bio- 
logical truths it is to be inferred that the eventual 
mixture of the allied varieties of the Aryan race, 
forming the population, will produce a more pow- 
erful type of man than has hitherto existed, and a 
type of man more plastic, more adaptable, more 
capable of undergoing modification needful for com- 
plete social life." 



34 



History sustains Mr. Spencer's prophecy. The 
better types of manhood have resulted from the 
mingling of race varieties. 

The splendid Germanic races, so long the domi- 
nating forces of Central Europe, grew up slowly 
out of many varieties. The Roman Empire was 
preserved awhile from the effects of its own deteri- 
oration by the daring incursion of the Northern 
races. England is the standing historical illustra- 
tion of what a blending of races can do toward 
developing national character. But there is no 
nation whose beginnings are so significant as those 
of our own. The value, as well as the interest, of 
these beginnings is illustrated by a remark made by 
Mr. Gladstone, when he declared that the birth of 
the American states was of more interest than any 
other it was possible to study, and added that 
" whenever a young man desirous of studying politi- 
cal life consults me, I always refer him to the early 
history of America." 

Specially will this study become interesting and 
important to those who shall agree with Mr. Glad- 
stone when he says again, " I incline to think that 
the future of America is of greater importance to 
Christendom at large, than any other country." 

Indeed there can be no intelligent understanding 
of our present position, nor a clear outlook toward 
our future estate as a nation, unless, with somewhat 
of the insight of a philosopher, we shall be able to 
to take wise account of the various historical ten- 
dencies that have resulted in our nationality. For 



35 



to-night, however, we are to study our national 
origin in the light of one question. What influence 
have Presbyterian ideas and men had upon the 
ruling principles and characteristic institutions of 
this republic % Three factors, speaking broadly, 
may be said to enter into the formation of any 
nation : the principles at its foundation, the insti- 
tutions that have been built into its growth, and the 
men who have illustrated those ideas, and founded 
those institutions. Let us speak along these three 
lines, successively. 

First, what principles characteristically Pres- 
byterian can we trace in our national beginnings ? 

Every nation has its own personality. That per- 
sonality is the outcome of certain ruling ideas. Our 
country is peculiar in tracing its origin not to any 
one people of Europe. The line of its history is 
not, therefore, a single line, and is not to be traced 
as you might trace the strong current of a river. It 
is the resultant of the combined life of half a dozen 
European nations. The problem, therefore, of find- 
ing out what are the ruling principles that have 
entered into the formation of this republic is not a 
simple, but a complex one. At the same time the 
facts stand out so clearly in our own history, and 
are so distinctly marked as that history is traced 
back to the lands whence it came, that it will not 
be very difficult to mark out, at least in a general 
way, what have been the national characteristics 
across the ocean, that have determined this last- 
born of great nations. 



36 



In a general way, historians are in the habit of 
saying that the chief factors of national life have 
come to us from England, Scotland, France, Ireland, 
and Holland. As the fingers come to the wrist, 
these nations have come to a certain solidarity in 
our own country. It is necessary, therefore, to 
inquire what are the essential truth elements of 
these respective nations. Of what ideas of truth, 
tolerance, education, and liberty were they re- 
spectively the exponents when the great Reforma- 
tion that quickened all Europe from the Orkneys 
to the Tiber had done its work, and the historian 
had had time to look about over the countries which 
it has influenced. Certain leading truths so devel- 
oped and new to the world are called Reformation 
Truths. Some of them had existed ages before, 
were an inheritance from Roman law and primitive 
Christianity, but had been swept away or covered 
up by the general flood of ignorance and oppression. 
Now with the lustre of new ideas, fresh born from 
Heaven, they emerged to gladden the world. As 
now we follow these ideas in their historic develop- 
ment we perceive that as you can trace the various 
streams that through the flats of Holland slip into 
the sea to the one strong river that clave the German 
hills, so you can follow the doctrines of personal 
liberty, rights of conscience, human brotherhood, 
and free government, springing up in Scotland and 
Holland and France almost simultaneously, toward 
one sourceful fountain, until at last you see it rush 
out from beneath a hill at the foot of the Alps, as 



37 



the Rhone to-day rushes along the same hill's base; 
for it requires no very profound or prolonged study 
of historic tendencies to discover that emigrants 
from Scotland, and the Netherlands, and England, 
and France, drank their first drafts of intellectual 
and spiritual liberty in the new-born republic of 
the city of Geneva. 

Greene, in his History of the English people, rec- 
ognizes truly the genius of the new life of Europe, 
and of the Reformation when he says, "As a vast 
and consecrated democracy it stood in contrast with 
the whole social and political framework of the 
European nations. Grave as we may count the 
faults of Calvinism, alien as its temper may be in 
many ways from the temper of the modern world, 
it is in Calvinism that the modern world strikes its 
roots, for it was Calvinism that first revealed the 
worth and dignity of man. Called of God and heir 
of Heaven, the trader at his counter and the digger 
of the field suddenly rose into equality with the 
noble and the king." 

Democratic government, free institutions, free 
schools, popular education, are the nerve ideas 
traceable to Geneva and John Calvin. The marks 
of their origin are distinctly upon them. They go 
down from that elevation to Holland, Spain and 
England, and so to the United States by way of 
Southhampton and Delfthaven and Londonderry 
and Havre. 

Notice for a moment, that this tendency may be 
clear in our minds and our obligation to that centre 



38 



may be distinctly recognized, how these nerve ideas 
reappear successively in the lands whence our 
fathers came. It will illustrate to us how through 

" The ages one increasing purpose runs ; 
And the thoughts of men are widened by the process of the suns." 

When the Scotch recalled John Knox from Geneva 
to resist, as they felt no army of the Highlands 
could resist, the encroachments of queens and 
prelates upon their national liberty, what was the 
word he brought them which should stand them in- 
stead of battalions but this, " No king but Christ." % 
It was in Geneva he learned to say that. When 
the Covenanters, driven first to Ireland, and from 
Ireland to the United States, settled all the way 
from New England to South Carolina they were 
the earliest and staunchest friends of American in- 
dependence. They who first held Derry against 
James, were ready to hold the liberty of the United 
States against all the armies of the Georges. The line 
is straight from the banks of the Delaware past the 
banks of the Boyne and the Firth of Forth, to the 
waters of the Rhone. 

Another stream descended from Geneva to the 
dikes of Holland, in that little land which was the 
scene of the first struggles for liberty and which 
for many years defied the army and navy of Spain. 
" Brave little Holland," as she has well been called. 
The land of an unconquerable love of civil and re- 
ligious liberty, of indomitable courage, absolute 
democratic principles and habits of life, and mar- 
vellous and prodigious industry which alone had 



39 



served to wrench the kingdom from the grasp of 
Neptune. Are we not indebted to her settlements 
in New York and New Jersey, as well as to her 
indirect influence on the settlers in New England 
for much of moral fibre and intellectual strength 
upon which our nation rests to-day % 

We are accustomed to say that we are dependent 
largely for national strength on English laws and 
English spirit, but the grandest contribution which 
England made to the life of our nation, was in the 
Puritan's ideal of a universal kingdom of right- 
eousness and truth. The superb ideal which they 
furnished came to us through the Puritans from 
Southampton and the Pilgrims from Holland. 

Strenuous effort has been made recently to prove 
that the British influence on American life came to 
us by way of the Dutch Republic. While this 
obligation is large, it probably is historically true 
that the chief obligation of New England is not to 
the few pilgrims who settled the Plymouth colony 
(though those oDe hundred souls undoubtedly gave 
a stamp which never was effaced from colonial his- 
tory) but to the Puritans who at the English Rev- 
olution in large numbers came to our shores and 
formed the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They com- 
prised the very best elements of English society. 
The twenty thousand who, with Hooker, Winthrop 
and Mather between 1630 and 1640 settled New 
England, gave us the distinctive type of Puritan 
life which, with all its faults, has been one of the 
grandest ever impressed on a young nation, and 



40 



the source of much of the intellectual and moral 
power which made New England eminent in colon- 
izing energy, all the way to the western prairies. 
But this superb ideal of a universal Christian king- 
dom on earth was dreamed long before by the great 
Genevese reformer in his " Institutes of Religion" 
It is some times said that Presbyterianism and 
Puritanism had not very much in common in their 
settlement of this country. But if, as the histor- 
ian Green says, "the religious temper which sprang 
from a deep conviction of the truth of Protestant 
doctrine and of the falsehood of Catholicism, was 
Puritanism," then these two were indentical in the 
substance of their religious convictions and together 
shared their glory and their peril. Their common 
persecutions made them oblivious of the difference 
between them and fused those two sections of Brit- 
ish reform into one. With both, the one chiefly in 
Scotland, the other chiefly in England, the supreme 
purpose was to bring policies of kings to the tests 
of reason and the gospel. Though sometimes at 
variance, they wrought together more solidly than 
they knew. The Puritan in England broke the 
despotism of the English monarchy, and the Pres- 
byterians in Scotland broke both the power of 
the King and the Pope. Thus our country is the 
last result of time ; the product of energies whose 
theatre was all northern and western Europe, but 
whose goal and home was the wilderness of Amer- 
ica. How marvellously God works ! The opening 
of his word, and the opening of the new world are 



41 



synchronous; each was fitted to and for the other. 

Second Institutions. An institution is a human 
personality writ large, and with indelible ink. An 
institution is the lengthened shadow of a man. 
Where the sun of progress shines, that shadow is 
sharply cast, and surely remains. 

We have considered some of the principles which 
underly the American nation, and have tried to find 
their origin in the old world. These principles, the 
exponents of convictions, have become incarnate 
in certain characteristic American institutions. Let 
us try to define them, and then trace their genesis. 

Matthew Arnold said, " The more I see of Amer- 
ica, the more I find myself inclined to treat their 
institutions with increased respect. Until I went to 
the United States, I had never seen a people with 
institutions which seemed expressly and thoroughly 
suited to it. I had not properly appreciated the 
benefits proceeding from this cause." 

American institutions are peculiar to American 
soil. 

Every people must develop their own, and as are 
the institutions, so will be the character of the 
people, because institutions are only incarnate 
principles. 

We have said that one of the germanent ideas 
of our Republic was the equality of men. It is 
declared in the first sentence of the Declaration of 
Independence. It was declared first in the doctrines 
of the Genevese reformer whose ''sacred democ- 
racy stood in sharp contrast to the whole social 



42 



and political framework of the European nations." 
It resulted in the political framework of the Ameri- 
can nation. 

The first institution that grew out of it in 
America, as in Geneva, was that of an independent 
church. To secure that independence Holland 
made her first fight. Scotland made the Grampians 
ring with martial music and martial tread. For it, 
the Pilgrims went to Holland and afterwards came 
to the United States. 

For awhile the constitutions of the different 
States differed from one another in this respect^ 
Some provided for a State church ; some provided 
against it ; some were neutral. But it was of the 
very genius of the principles underlying our Gov- 
ernment that union between Church and State could 
not long abide, and, therefore, New York in her 
first constitutional convention in 1777, repealed all 
such parts of common law, and all such statutes 
as " could be construed to establish or maintain any 
particular denomination of Christians or their min- 
isters." 

A few years later Virginia and the other States 
followed ; the new States coming into the Union 
since the adoption of the Federal Constitution have 
all, of course, come in under the banner of abso- 
lute separation of Church and State. Who can 
fail to trace the common origin of that separation 
between the Church and the State, which has been 
the pride of both % Who can fail to here recognize 
the identity of republicanism and Presbyterianism % 



43 



No wonder Charles II declared Presbyterianism 
a religion unfit for a gentleman. It was that doc- 
trine which in half a dozen European countries was 
the deadly foe of tyranny and despotism, which 
stood guard over the cradle of American liberty in 
Holland and Scotland, and nurtured liberty to its 
manhood in the United States. 

Again, one of the institutions of our country is the 
representative structure of our Government, resting 
on a stable, written Constitution. Because Great 
Britain has no written constitution, because her so- 
called constitution is the growth of abstractions, 
traditions, and often contradictory parliamentary 
proceedings, her eminent statesmen have, of late, 
been looking with refreshing admiration to this 
document, the palladium of our liberties. The 
well known remark of Mr. Gladstone, " So far as I 
can see, the most wonderful work ever struck off at 
a given time by the brain of man, is the American 
Constitution," is the mature judgment of the man 
who of all other men has struggled for constitu- 
tional liberty in Great Britain. 

Upon that written Constitution, at once the pride 
and glory of our nation, stands a system of republi- 
can Government crowned by that magnificent insti- 
tution peculiar to our country, the Supreme Court, 
the guardian of all legislation and the power that 
stands for the purity and stability of every depart- 
ment of our Government. A recent writer claims 
that our representative system is copied from Hol- 
land. The claim is too large to be allowed in its 



44 



fuilness. But Dutch history was doubtless studied 
by the framers of the Constitution, and such features 
as a Senate — a form of a Supreme Court — freedom 
of religion and of the press — were doubtless present 
to their minds. 

It is, however, too much to claim that any one 
country gave us the pattern of our great institu- 
tions. The impulse toward them came from many 
lands. But the institutions are American. 

Notice what has so often challenged attention : 
the parallelism between these, our political institu- 
tions and the corresponding ones in our church. 

Our Constitution and the National Constitution 
were twins at their birth in Philadelphia. The 
first step taken toward the formation of our church 
constitution was taken in 1785. On the 16th of 
May, 1788, the Synod of New York and Philadel- 
phia adopted and ratified the immortal document 
and organized the General Assembly. On the 
17th of September, 1787, our Federal Constitution 
was completed and its adoption was consummated 
in 1788. So the workers in the two spheres, the 
civil and religious, wrought side by side, and the 
product of each reflects many of the characteristics 
of the product of the other ; stability is written 
on them both. 

Our Constitution rests upon essentially the same 
principles as that of the State, and it remains 
to-day, without essential change, the basis of all 
our legislation. Rising from it are our representa- 
tive church courts in direct connection with the 



45 



people, and at the summit is our Supreme Court 
guarding the rights of individuals and the stability 
of church government. 

It is not important in the pursuit of our parallel 
to trace the national origin of our form of govern- 
ment, whether it came to us by way of England or 
Scotland or Holland. Since it is perfectly manifest 
that the pattern of it was first seen on that mount 
which has given the pattern of so many good things 
to American civilization, which rises from the shores 
of Lake Leman. This is conceded by Bancroft and 
other historians. 

It required a revolution to firmly establish these 
institutions of a free church and a free state and a 
free constitution and republican Government, " but 
what was the Revolution" as Bancroft has said, 
but the application of the principles of the Refor- 
mation to our civil Government % " 

Another of our institutions without which this 
Republic could not exist, since intelligence lies at 
the basis of independence, is our common School 
System. In 1642 it was the law of Puritan New 
England that " None of the brethren shall suffer 
so much barbarism in their families as not teach 
their children and apprentices so much learning as 
may enable them to perfectly read the English 
tongue." And in 1647 it was ordered in all Puritan 
colonies, " to the end that learning may not be 
buried in the graves of our forefathers, that every 
township after the Lord has increased them to the 
number of fifty householders, shall appoint one to 



46 



teach all children to read and write, and when they 
shall have increased to the number of one hundred 
families, they shall set up a grammar school, the 
master thereof being able to instruct the youths so 
far as they may be fitted for the university. 

The eminence of New Enland lies originally, not 
in her great colleges (though her liberality to higher 
education has always been conspicuous) but in her 
common schools. I think Connecticut, under the 
lead of Hooker, has the honor of first securing free 
schools supported by government. Every child as 
it came into the world was taken in the arms of the 
country's guardianship, and received for its in- 
heritance the pledge of mental and moral training. 
Whence came our system of common schools ? 
" The common school system was derived from 
Geneva, the work of John Calvin, was carried by 
John Knox into Scotland, and so became the prop- 
erty of the English speaking nations." The his- 
torian might have added, it was taken from Geneva 
to Holland and Sweden. In Sweden in 1637 not a 
single peasant child was unable to read or write. 
At the outbreak of the war with Spain, the peasants 
in Holland could read and write well, and in the 
first Synod of Dort, 1574, it was directed " that the 
servants of the church obtain from trustees in 
every locality permission for the appointment of 
schoolmasters, and an order for their condensation 
as in the past." 

Holland probably holds the pre-eminence for 
schools supported by the government. " A laod," 



47 



says Motley, " where every child went to school, 
where almost every individual inhabitant could 
read and write ; where even the middle classes 
were proficient in mathematics and the classics, 
and could speak two or more modern lan- 
guages." From this it would follow almost as a 
matter of course, that among the first free schools 
supported by the Government in this country were 
those established by the Dutch settlers of New 
York. 

We have spoken of Presbyterian truths and their 
growth into institutions, but great institutions 
have great men back of them ; principles are incar- 
nated in characters. I said that the institution is 
the shadow of a man. Let us now follow up the 
shadows to the great personalities that give them 
form and significance. Of what service have Pres- 
byterian men been to the cause of American liberty % 
If I were to name the four men, who, in my opinion, 
incarnated more of reformation life and of the prin- 
ciples of the Reformed Church than any other, I 
should name two clergymen and two civilians ; 
they would be Calvin, Knox, Coligny and William 
of Orange. They were the representatives of cer- 
tain types of reformation doctrine. These types 
we will find reproduced in our land. Thus 
Calvin stood for the sovereignty of God, and for 
the equality of men. His doctrine of divine sover- 
eignty breathed again in the prayers on the May- 
flower and the religion of the Jamestown colonists, 
and afterward in public documents and in addresses 



48 



in early colonial history. John Adams expressed 
it all when he said, while the fate of the Declara- 
tion was hanging in the balance of debate, "It is 
the will of Heaven that Great Britain and America 
should be sundered forever." 

It was the mission of Calvin to put the idea of 
God into the constitutions of the thirteen States, 
and if ever the time shall come when that idea 
shall be dim in the popular thought, when the 
tonic of it shall disappear from our theology and 
the reason for it fade from our philosophy, we will 
only need to uncover colonial history to see it shine 
again in its brightness as it shone in the theology 
of the Reformer, like Mont Blanc among the snowy 
Alps. 

The correlate of the idea of God is that of an 
independent and heroic manhood. This was illus- 
trated by the Hugenots in France, and the man 
who stands for its loftiest spirit is the Admiral 
Coligny. 

When Louis XIV, that small great man, who 
was "little in war, little in peace, little in every- 
thing but the art of simulating greatness," re- 
voked the Edict of Nantes, a half million of the best 
sons of France were driven from their native land 
to sow the seeds of valor along the Rhine, the Maas, 
the Thames, and the Hudson. Their mark is to-day 
on all our greatness. Their heroism lived on many 
battle-fields of the Revolution. Thus, long before 
the chivalric devotion of La Fayette, we were bound 
to the land of arts, romance and heroism by the emi- 



49 



grants who from the Penobscot to the Santee avowed 
the simple faith they had received from Geneva, and 
translated into martial valor on the fields of St. Denis 
and Orleans. 

It was reserved for Scotland to wage war with 
princes for the kingship of Christ, and the lordship 
of the truth. John Knox was the ruling spirit of 
the storm. 

Standing recently in the historic room in the 
house in Edinburgh where he lived and died, I was 
reminded of the debt which not only Scotland, but 
all who strove for liberty in any realm, owed that 
man, to see on the wall the words, Thomas Ran- 
dolph sent to Sir William Cecil: "This man Knox 
is able in one hour to put more life in us, than five 
hundred trumpets continually blustering in our 
ears." 

And William of Orange, representing simplicity 
of life, regal dignity of character and unconquer- 
able aversion to all tyranny, is bound to us by the 
important relations of the Dutch Reformed Church 
to our own. These men who thus put the stamp of 
their rare manhood on the early history of the 
Reformation have worthy successors among us. 
The spirit of freedom which the old world brought 
to the new inspires our early Presbyterian history. 
Consider for a moment the make-up of the popula- 
tion of the original colonies. 

Governor Horatio Seymour, of New York, first 
pointed out the fact that nine men prominent in the 
early history of New York and of the Union, rep- 



50 



resented the same number of nationalities. Hear 
that remarkable cosmopolitan roll-call of honor : 
Seymour of Holland, Herkimer of Germany, Jay 
of France, Livingston of Scotland, Clinton of Ire- 
land, Morris of Wales, Hoffman of Sweden. Ob- 
serve the difference between the colonization of the 
country by the Presbyterians and the other denom- 
inations. New England was settled by the Puri- 
tans. Their polity early had the protection of the 
State. The Dutch were in favor with the reigning 
powers of New York. Virginia and other South- 
ern States protected Episcopalians. Maryland fos- 
tered the Roman Catholics, and Pennsylvania the 
Quakers. But the Presbyterians were the Lord's 
wandering sheep. They were scattered every- 
where ; their only protection their single-hearted 
devotion to the country and their faith. And they 
were as leaven that is hidden in the meal. 

To New Jersey the Scotch gave her war governor, 
William Livingstone, and to Virginia Patrick 
Henry, who carried his State for independence, and 
who, as Mr. Jefferson once said to Daniel Webster, 
" was far before us all in maintaining the spirit of 
the Revolution." 

In the Revolution they gave to the army such 
men as Knox, Sullivan and Stark from New Eng- 
land, Clinton from New York, General Robert 
Montgomery, who fell at Quebec, brave Anthony 
Wayne, the hero of Stony Point, Colonel John 
Eager Howard of Maryland, who saved the day at 
the battle of Cowpens, and Colonel William Camp- 



51 



bell, who saved the day at King's Mountain, the 
most critical event of the contest in the Sonth. 

Of twenty-three presidents of the United States, 
the Scotch-Irish have contributed six : Jackson, 
Polk, Taylor, Buchanan, Johnson, and Arthur. 
The Scotch, three or four : Monroe, Grant, and 
Hayes, and, I believe, Harrison. 

Even New England owes an unacknowledged 
debt to Scotland and Ireland. These lands gave a 
small but important contribution to her early his- 
tory. The Puritan, with his intense love of right- 
eousness and reverence for the authority of God 
and the dignity of man, stamped his character, not 
only upon New England, but broadly, through 
the country. But the Puritans were all Calvinists 
and many of them were Presbyterians ; so were the 
Dutch ; so were the French Hugenots. The great 
ideas growing into great institutions on these shores 
were borne upon the shoulders of great men, and 
these men, in very large proportion, were men who 
were inspired by the faith of the Reformers, and 
who gave their lives to Reformation principles. 
And they suffered for their faith in many cases, 
much as their fathers had suffered on the other side 
of the sea. Intolerant legislation, bigotry, and 
power of the established church in the Carolinas 
gave our fathers a chance to taste the cup of per- 
secution. The treatment which Francis Makemie 
and many of his compeers experienced at the hands 
of governors and judges, all fitly links the history 
of American Presbyterianism with the memories 



52 



of the English, Irish and Scotch dissenters under 
the reign of the Stuarts. 

There is no time to call the roll of honored names 
whose lives have gone into the building of our nat- 
ional temple. From Francis Makemie to the pres- 
ent time, it is a roll of which the church may well be 
proud. William Tennant the Irish Presbyterian, 
on the banks of the Neshaminy laid up the logs 
of the rude building that was the precursor of 
Princeton University. It was a graduate of Prince- 
ton, Ephraim Brevard who wrote the Mecklinberg 
Declaration ; the pen stroke that in 1775 separated 
one county in North Carolina from the British crown, 
which first asserted the doctrine, that Americans 
were and of right, ought to be a free and independ- 
ent people. I am aware that Prof. John Fiske has 
sought to discredit this Mecklinberg Declaration. 
But it probably is too well imbedded in the history 
of the times to be now dislodged. Indeed the col- 
onization of North and South Carolina by Scotch 
and Irish people, forms a most interesting and fruit- 
ful theme for historic study. From Eastern Mary- 
land the stream flowed westward and southward 
and gave a stamp to all that reigon, which has made 
it pre-eminently and unconquerably the Protestant 
region of America. Recent investigations disclose 
the fact that the Protestant element of North Caro- 
lina is seventy-one per cent, of the population and 
South Carolina nearly as high. It was Samuel Davis, 
who with almost matchless oratory, evangelized Vir- 
ginia. It was John Witherspoon who, when Con- 



53 



gress for amoment wavered between the slavery and 
the liberty of his country, lifted his voice till the 
old hall rang again. " For my part, of property I 
have some, of reputation more. That property is 
staked, that reputation is pledged on the issue of 
this contest. Although these gray hairs must soon 
descend into the sepulchre, I would infinitely 
rather they would descend thither by the hand of 
the public executioner than desert at this crisis the 
sacred cause of my country." 

The Declaration of Independence, as now preser- 
ved at the State Department, is in the hand writing 
of a Scotch-Irishman, Charles Thomson, the Sec- 
retary of Congress. It is said to have been first 
printed by Thomas Dunlap, another Scotch-Irish- 
man, and a third Scotch-Irishman, Captain John 
Nixon of Philadelphia, was the first to read it to the 
people. Indeed the Presbyterians were rebels al- 
most to a man. The synod of New York and Phila- 
delphia was the first ecclesiastical body that coun- 
seled open resistance to England. The ministers 
committed themselves in their pulpits to the cause 
of American freedom, and of many of them it might 
be said, as it was said of John Craighead of Penn- 
sylvania, that he fought and preached alternately. 

And they suffered persecution in the cause of 
liberty. The British hated them with a cordial 
hatred. Dr. Hodgers of New York was obliged to 
leave his church to save his life. Others were car- 
ried off captives. Duffield, honorable name in our 
history, was at one time while the enemy were on 



54 



Staten Island, preaching to the soldiers in an 
orchard across the bay. The forks of a tree served 
him for a pulpit. The noise of the singing at- 
tracted the attention of the enemy. Presently the 
balls began to whistle about the preacher's head ; 
undismayed, he moved his audience to a position 
of safety behind a hillock, and there finished his 
sermon. 

Many of the Presbyterian ministers were engaged 
in civil service for their country. Witherspoon 
was a prominent member of the Continental Con- 
gress. Jacob Green, father of Ashbel Green, was 
a member of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, 
and chairman of the committee that drafted the 
State Constitution. 

William Tennant of Charleston was a member of 
the Provincial Congress of South Carolina, and 
frequently on the same day he would address audi- 
ences in his church on the salvation of their souls, 
and in the State House on the salvation of the 
country. 

"Show me the blood and I will show you the 
man." The blood of the Covenanters fought on 
the battlefields of the Revolution. 

A few months ago I traversed the moors of Scot- 
land. I stood by the monument of Cameron and 
his comrades on the spot where they fell ; by the 
monument of John Brown who was shot in front of 
his house by the Claverhouse Dragoons. I traced 
the marks of martyrdom from the Irish Sea to the 
Highlands, and had recalled to me again the hero- 



55 



ism of the fathers, who at Bothwell Bridge and 
along the Nith and the Ayr, fought battles for 
freedom which have echoed around the world. 

It was a matter of course that their decendants 
would be rebels against tyranny, and would resist 
stamp acts and taxation without representation, 
even to the death. 

The recent investigations of the Scotch-Irish 
Society .have disclosed an interesting history con- 
nected with the poor whites of the mountains of 
Kentucky and Tennessee and West Virginia. They 
are largely composed of Scotch and Scotch-Irish 
people who refused to join the ranks of the Southern 
army, and in silence and poverty and deepening 
ignorance kept their faith sternly with their coun- 
try and their God, amid the rock fortresses of the 
mountains. They are an obscure people — but it is 
from some one of those families came that great 
soul — whose is the only name that Americans write 
level with the name of Washington — Abraham 
Lincoln of Kentucky. 

Thus have I endeavored in merest outline to 
sketch the obligations of our country to the prin- 
ciples, institutions, and persons of our church. 

From the vantage ground of this review we 
may take a bold and hopeful look to the future. 
What in a historic spirit may be expected from 
Presbyterianism in the America of the future % We 
accord peculiar honor to the fatherlands and their 
heroes when we claim a progressive church and de- 
clare that our inheritance had such vitality that 



56 



we have improved on the original type. Our doc- 
trines are broader, our spirit more catholic, our 
missionary conception more daring, more Christ- 
like. We bear the lineaments of our origin and 
are proud of them ; but the type is American and 
good for a march around the world. Our spectrum 
holds the best metal of the old saints and the liv- 
ing light of to-day. 

What now is the possible contribution which 
our church may make to the future of the country % 

The great theological truths that stand related to 
national progress have been uttered. The sov- 
ereignty of Grod and the dignity of man are the 
great correlate ideas which have been bequeathed 
to us by the Reformation. They furnish the soil 
out of which strong nationality may grow. These 
ideas, viewed in the harmonizing light of the Cross 
in which divine sonship and human brotherhood 
appear, constitute a sufficient ethical basis for a 
great and progressive state. These ideas, so re- 
garded in Calvary's light, the Presbyterian church 
carries on all her banners. 

We need not greatly reconstruct our theology. 
Its essential elements are sufficient for the power of 
a church and the well-being of the state. The pe- 
culiar mission of the next century will be to apply 
them. We will never have another theologizing 
period like the 17th century, nor a time of the de- 
velopment of stately church polity like the 18th 
century, but the problem of the present is to de- 
velop the kingdom of Grod working in and through 



57 



the kingdoms of men. In a word, the living ques- 
tions of religion are those which work in with so- 
cial, civic, and national life. The church never 
had so good a chance to be a blessing to the nation 
as now. It must come, of course, through the ab- 
solute independence of each. We, first among the 
children of men, are in condition to prove the ethi- 
cal possibilities of Christianity. Calvin, Luther, 
Melancthon could not, because a church is never at 
its best, spiritually, till it is wholly free from state 
control. But we can, and, therefore, we must. 

How shall this be done 'I I will name three di- 
rections : First. By education. This is a safeguard 
of the republic. This is the historic glory of Pres- 
byterianism. I have given you the origin of free 
schools in Geneva, Holland, Scotland. The history 
of our church in this country has been one of de- 
votion to education. The church and the school 
and the college have flourished side by side all 
the way from Neshaminy Creek to the Colum- 
bia River. We have been true to the public free 
schools. Why should we not be ? We made free 
schools. We have carried the curriculum upward 
to the university level. See the signal lights, as 
you may sight them across the continent, of Wash- 
ington and Jefferson, Oxford, Wooster, Wabash, 
Lake Forest, Park, and others, binary stars of the 
mingled radiance of letters and the Gospel. 

Again, the brightest, fairest dream our country 
is dreaming to-day is that of social and civic re- 
forms. It is more than a dream. The morning 



58 



seems about to dawn, and strong men are shaking 
slumber from them and arising to attack the wild 
beasts of evil passions that so long have had their 
hands on the nation's throat; beasts of intemper- 
ance, licentiousness, greed of money, prostitution 
of official position, tyranny of the strong over the 
weak. These beasts have made our fair cities 
bloody with their rage and assaulted the fair fame 
of our country as the home of liberty and the friend 
of man. And, mark it, these reforms are being 
pushed forward in the name of the Lord of hosts. 

And who is leading the hosts of civic reform in 
our metropolis % Is it not a Presbyterian minister % 
And who in our National Capital put a throb of 
conscience into political strife when he said, " Pub- 
lic office is a public trust " % Who but a Presby- 
terian President and the son of a Presbyterian 
manse \ And who, a few years earlier in the same 
high office, stood for official purity and integrity, 
illustrating meanwhile the Gospel of the grace of 
God in an open Christian life but a Presbyterian 
Elder % 

The Presbyterian church is the steadfast friend 
of all reforms. She believes nations reach their 
ultimate destiny as organic parts of the kingdom 
of God. To that end she is striving to apply the 
highest power of her doctrines to the deepest moral 
needs of man. And here she has such a theatre for 
this endeavor as the world never presented before. 
All the nations of the earth are here. Rome never 
humbled before her sword so many peoples as have 



59 



been drawn by our light of liberty. It remains to 
see what the Gospel can do to meet and master for 
God these world-wide conditions. To our church 
and to the others with us (for this enterprise trans- 
cends denominations) there is an unparalleled 
chance to prove the practical efficiency of our com- 
mon faith. And in the proving of it society will 
be purified and the nation achieve her third charter 
of freedom. Her first she won on the battlefields 
of the Revolution — her second amid the struggles 
of the Rebellion — -her third will come on the blood- 
less field of a contest for the working power of 
Christian truth and the realization of a Kingdom 
of Heaven on earth. 

But once more — this nation is throned amid 
nations. It is no idle boast — but a geographical 
truth to say, America is the natural, commercial 
and political center of the world. The Anglo- 
Saxon race is, to-day, and destined to be, increas- 
ingly in coming time, the dominant race of the 
world. It unites in one the individualism of 
Greece — the organizing faculty of Rome — the relig- 
ious power of the old Hebrews. But the Hebrews 
were shut in a narrow hill country — the Greeks on 
a little Peninsula — the Romans even, had a small 
realm as a permanent possession. The Anglo-Saxon 
race at home has only a few small islands. The 
Anglo-Saxon race in America has come to its great 
inheritance. It has here attained the highest civil- 
ization — it has amassed the greatest wealth — it has 
the most magnificent continental theatre for its un- 



60 



folding. In the unfolding it will have a great 
duty to other nations. Thus it must become a 
teacher of certain great truths. 

One of these is the brotherhood of man. Our 
open ports have taught it east and west. Some 
people think perilously : not if Christian truth 
leavens the doctrine of human rights ; not if the 
principles of fraternity and moral accountability 
too founded in the Gospel and illustrated by 
churches are carried on the front of our civilization. 
The nation depends upon the church to keep these 
great truths to the front — nay, to push them through 
missionary enterprise in the nations of the world. 
Missions imply at once loyalty to Church and the 
nation. " In the good of every nation all the rest 
have equal share." The missionary work of our 
church stands closely in with the permanence of 
republican principles. America will reach her high 
destiny only when she says to tyrannies and idol- 
atries east and west, ''All ye are brethren and 
children of one God," and it is the missionary must 
say these things. We had a grand illustration in 
New York of the relations between patriotism and 
aggressive Christianity, when at a great missionary 
meeting an ex-President of the United States pre- 
sided and an ex-Secretary of State, from a per- 
sonal inspection of mission fields, pleaded for the 
moral regeneration of the nations around us. Re- 
cent and accumulating horrors excite me to say 
there is one mission duty which America owes to 
the world and to the God of justice, which I fear 



61 



the church, is not properly accoutred to perform, 
a gospel of justice which I fear can only be 
preached with an unsheathed sword for a gesture 
and deep-throated cannon for argument, to the end 
that the unspeakable Turk and his unspeakable 
government may be blotted from the earth. 

It has been the historic glory of Presbyterians 
to stand up against oppression. May her genius 
inspire our Government to exalt and maintain a 
lofty ideal of righteousness among men. 

If ever the time comes in the future when our 
country must defend against internal weakening 
or the rush of external storms — the principles and 
the institutions which have made her great and 
made her noble, may Presbyterians— once again — 
be worthy of the blood that is in them. May the 
fields and the men of the old conflicts rise upon 
their vision for an inspiration. 

I have read somewhere a story of a battle above, 
which, as in mirage, a heavenly prototype was hang- 
ing in transfigured light, and those who fought be- 
low were cheered on by seeing the glorified battle 
scene, where all the seeming defeats below were 
pictured in the colors of a glorious victory. 

Such an inspiration will be for all who fight for 
liberty in the future. There above the clouds and 
above the alternations of earthly chance — we may 
see the transfigured fields all glorious in the light 
of triumph. There is Orleans and Leyden — there 
is Marston Moor and Bothwell Bridge ; there too are 
the bloodless fields of intellectual and moral agony. 



62 



There are Wittenberg and Geneva ; Dort and St. 
Andrews ; and as I see earthly defeat, uplifted 
into victory there, in the fair prospective of his- 
tory, there in the bending sky of the gracious cen- 
turies — faces come out and look down upon us — no 
longer scarred and anxious and bleeding, but serene 
in an imperial majesty and benignant with divine 
encouragement. The thin visage of Calvin softened 
till it looks like a benediction ; the piercing coun- 
tenance of Knox, gracious and at rest ; the stately 
figure of William of Orange ; the noble bearing of 
Coligny, calm as that marble image of him, that 
looks out upon the Rue de Rivoli at Paris. And 
they are our fathers, and we are their children. 
And if Heaven calls us or our descendants into 
stress or storm, our knowledge of their victories 
and our sense of our lineage will keep us true to 
our place, our country, and our God. 



Tuesday Evening, November igth y 1S95. 

PRESBYTERIANS AND EDUCATION. 

HENRY M. MacCRACKEN, D. D., LL D., 

Chancellor of the University of the City of New York. 



I am not here to-night to recount the educational 
achievements of American Presbyterianism. So 
much remains to be done in our land in the cause of 
education, that I shall ask you as Presbyterians to 
look this hour not to the past, so much as to the 
present. I trust thus, to reach a practical end, 
namely, the turning of your minds to the question, 
what work have we to do for education in America ? 
Three characteristics should belong to any work thus 
proposed. First, it must be one which greatly needs 
to be done. Second, it must be one in which Pres- 
byterians may undertake to lead without presump- 
tion. Third, the enterprise should be such as this 
Centennial of Presbyterianism in the capital city 
of the United States of America might fittingly in- 
augurate. 

Possibly there may occur to your minds various 
tasks which fulfill all of these conditions. The 
view, however, of the educational field, which my 
office has given me throughout many years past, im 
presses this one subject more highly than any other 
namely, the systematizing, strengthening and 



64 



honoring of higher education in the United States 
of America. 

First, I shall argue that this work needs to be 
done, and that Presbyterians may fittingly lead in 
attempting it. You will allow me to j)resent this 
argument not in abstract propositions, but by con- 
crete facts, in the way of illustration. 

There happens to be in the world one Presbyter- 
ian country. This country has attempted much in 
the way of higher education. I will place this 
land and our own side by side for the sake of com- 
parison and suggestion. I mean the land of Scot- 
land ; the little nation of four millions. I shall 
dwell on Scotland as an object-lesson in both Pres- 
byterianism and education. Scotland is more than 
four-fifths a thoroughly Presbyterian people. Of 
the other fifth the majority are Protestants of the 
Independent or Episcopalian pattern. Not one- 
tenth of the nation is Catholic or far removed in 
religious sympathy from its Presbyterian popula- 
tion. 

England is far less homogeneous, more than one- 
third of her people dissenting from Episcopacy. 
Holland, Germany and Switzerland are each of 
them more than one-third Roman Catholic. The 
Scandinavian countries alone approach Scotland in 
denominational homogeneousness. Hence, if any- 
thing has been done in Scotland for higher educa- 
tion, Presbyterians have had the principal share in 
the doing of it. 



65 



Before, however, I enter on the comparison of 
our heterogeneous America with homogeneous Scot- 
land, let us remember that we have nearly twenty 
citizens to deal with where Scotland has one. 
Each group of twenty American citizens is scat- 
tered over more than a square mile of territory. 
Little Scotland expects more than one hundred of 
her citizens to live upon each square mile, being 
five times as compact as our own nation. Scotland 
has had many centuries for rearing her people, with 
comparatively little admission of foreign elements. 
The United States, starting a century ago with 
fewer people than Scotland has to-day, has had to 
give place to every tribe under heaven. 

I now ask you to imagine yourself with me in 
an educational corridor, with a nation on either 
side. On the left hand of this corridor I will put 
little Scotland as an example of Presbyterianism 
and education, and on the right hand I will put 
the United States of America. We will start with 
the elementary school, proceed to the secondary or 
higher schools, thence to the college and univer- 
sity. 

First, I observe, that in Scotland, in the element- 
ary school, of the children from seven to fourteen 
years of age, every child has a seat provided for 
it ; indeed, there were nearly one hundred thous- 
and more seats according to the official report of 
three years since, than there were children to 
occupy them. The enrollment of children in the 
school was eighty for every one hundred of the 



66 



school population ; the average attendance was 
sixty-eight for every one hundred of the school 
population. 

In the United States of America, on the other 
hand, according to the last report of our Govern- 
ment, there are not enough seats or school-room 
accommodation. There were but sixty-nine scholars 
enrolled for every one hundred of the school popu- 
lation, being eleven less than in Scotland. And 
when we come to the average attendance, there are 
less than forty-five in the United States against 
sixty-eight in Scotland. So that while more than 
two-thirds of the children in Scotland who might 
be in school are found there every day of the school 
year, in the United States not one-half of the child- 
ren from five to eighteen years of age are found in 
daily attendance. 

This suggests what Presbyterianism has done for 
Scotland in elementary education, and what Pres- 
byterians ought to seek to do for common schools 
in America. 

In Scotland the average salary of a schoolmaster 
is between $650 and $700 ; of a school mistress over 
$300. Moreover, one-seventh of the schoolmasters 
and schoolmistresses are provided with residences 
free of rent. The total expenditure is nearly $11 
for each pupil in average attendance. 

The average salary of a schoolmaster in the com- 
mon schools of the United States is not quite $280 
and of schoolmistresses, $263. As to residences 
for schoolmasters or schoolmistresses, if there is 



67 



such a thing provided for our teachers in any one 
of the United States, I have never been so favored 
as to have any school board invite me to visit it. 

Much has been said of the great advantages in 
the matter of wage earning of the American work- 
man over the unfortunate inhabitant of the British 
Isles. If my statistics are not all wrong, and they 
are taken from the official reports of the United 
States Government, Presbyterian Scotland provides 
far more handsomely for her laborers in the school- 
room, whether man or woman, than does our own 
country. 

Presbyterians who are credited with enforcing 
Gospel doctrine, have a work to do throughout 
America in proclaiming on behalf of the school 
teacher, that " the laborer is worthy of his hire." 

Before I pass from the elementary or common 
school, lest this comparison may seem too disheart- 
ening to Americans let me tell some of the advanced 
steps which we have made in the last quarter cen- 
tury, or since 1867 when the national department 
of education was first established. We have begun 
with the little children. In 1870 there were only 
four kindergartens in our country. The most 
recent statistics at my command, report one thous- 
and and one such schools with over fifty thousand 
pupils. Besides the separate kindergarten work 
which trains the little ones between the ages of 
three and six years, without the aid of books, to 
enter upon the elementary school, excellent results 
from this form of school have been accomplished 
by carrying its spirit into tens of thousands of the 



68 



XDrimary school-rooms of our land. Another hope- 
ful feature of our common schools is the setting 
alongside of them in the last quarter century of the 
manual training annex. With the enormous drift 
towards city life, the facilities for the old-fashioned 
manual training on the farm or in the village work- 
shop, have been greatly diminished. In twenty- 
eight of our large cities manual training has been 
established alongside of our common school train- 
ing from the beginning of the primary grade to 
that of the grammar school. It is not the teaching 
of a trade, but it is the teaching of what may 
greatly help towards successful entrance upon 
either a trade, a business pursuit or higher educa- 
tion. What, however, gives more encouragement 
than the setting up of additional agencies such as 
the kindergarten or school of manual training is 
the increased energy put into the common school 
for its great work of giving us citizens sufficiently 
intelligent to exercise the high office of voters. 
Our census reports of 1890, compared with those of 
1870, show that while only 171 per cent, of the pop- 
ulation were enrolled in the common schools a 
quarter of a century ago, more than 20 per cent, 
were found there five years since. The real increase 
has been, however, wholly in the south and in the 
west. The newer parts of our country have ad- 
vanced ; the older portions have barely held their 
own. 

Take as favorable a view as we can of the ele- 
mentary schools, if we judge them by no higher 



69 



standard than those of Scotland, we see an immense 
work to be done. The two branches of work that 
are most urgent, are, first, to provide qualified 
teachers, men and women, for every common school 
in the United States. Second, to educate the pub- 
lic sentiment to make the office of these teachers at 
least as good an office as we find in poor Scotland. 

Shall barren Scotland 4 'land of brown heath and 
shaggy wood," as she is named by her foremost 
writer, be allowed to do more for her pedagogues, 
whether "Reuben Butlers" or "Dominie Sam- 
sons," than our land of deep loamy prairies and 
broad alluvial valleys, for her teacher, though some 
of them be " Ichabod Cranes" or "Hoosier School- 
masters ? " 

I ask you to resume the walk up the educational 
corridor, where we now reach, whether in Scotland 
or in the United States, the place of the advanced 
school, named in either country the secondary or 
high school. Little Scotland has one hundred and 
fifty-two schools that give secondary training, of 
which the larger part are outside the Government 
inspection. In these schools over seven thousand 
students presented themselves for what is known 
as the "leaving certificate," corresponding to our 
high school diploma. This is very nearly one for 
every four hundred and sixty of the population. 
According to the last reports in the United States 
in the year 1892, there were from both public and 
private academies and high schools, not quite thirty 
seven thousand graduates, about one for every seven- 



70 



teen hundred of the population. Nor am I sure 
that the leaving certificate of the Scotch high school 
does not testify higher attainment than the average 
diploma of the American academy. They are ac- 
cepted by the Scottish universities in place of their 
preliminary examinations. The powerful lever in 
Scotland for securing system and uniformity in 
secondary education, is the rule of her four univer- 
sities, that the only equivalent for the preliminary 
examinations by the university, shall be those con- 
ducted by the Government examiners. 

Has not the time come in America when through- 
out all our States, secondary education may be rend- 
ered more uniform and thorough % Presbyterians 
were the pioneers in numberless counties of the 
Middle States of private high schools or academies. 

My own recollection goes back near fifty years 
before public high schools were set up in Ohio, to 
the building by my parents upon their own ground 
of a small academy ; the only one in a broad county. 

It is my first educational reminiscence. Upon 
graduation from college I was for a while classical 
teacher in a similar academy. In both of those 
communities the Presbyterian academy stimulated 
the establishing of the public high school which 
has taken its place. This has been the history of 
numberless communities. Nevertheless, while the 
public high schools in 1892 were about three thous- 
and, there were still fifteen hundred and thirty 
academies supported by private corporations. The 
public high schools have about two hundred and 



71 



forty thousand students, while the private have a 
little over one hundred thousand. The figures can- 
not be precise, because as the commissioner wisely 
says, the exact place of the secondary school in the 
United States is not yet definitely determined. 
Enough, however, is clear to show that the zeal of 
the Presbyterians for country or village academies 
has not been misplaced. Nearly one-third of the 
secondary education of the United States is done 
by the private academy including, of course, all the 
numerous academies of our Roman Catholic breth- 
ren, and even then there is not one high school or 
academy for each fourteen thousand of our citizens. 

Here, before I leave this part of the educational 
corridor, I mention for our encouragement three 
agencies that have sprung up in America parallel 
with the high school or academy. I mean the trade 
school, the business college and the school of arts 
and design. Young men and young women by 
thousands, take these as a substitute for the high 
school. In the cities of America over one-half a 
million of youth complete the common or element- 
ary schools every year. Not fifty thousand of 
these enter the high schools ; that is, only one out 
of every ten. The question arises as in the New 
Testament narrative, " where are the nine ? " The 
answer in a crude way must be, in the shop, in the 
office, in the railway, in the street, or in the saloon. 
To supply the demand of the common school scholar 
who wants to go out promptly to earn his liveli- 
hood, business colleges offer themselves, perhaps 



72 



two hundred to three hundred in our country with 
nearly fifty thousand students. The trade schools 
are much newer and perhaps number less than half- 
a-dozen in the entire United States. They can 
hardly have superseded very largely the old-fash- 
ioned mode of learning trades by young men becom- 
ing helpers and associates of skilled mechanics, but 
they may do much in a generic way. There are 
scores of various trades in the United States. 
The trade schools are not likely ever to teach each 
and every one of these forms of labor, but they 
may teach a few and they may exalt before the 
eyes of intelligent youth the mechanical occupa- 
tions. The schools of industrial art have grown 
up wholly in this generation ; there are thirty-three 
named in the last national report. They range 
from teaching how to design ordinary fabrics, all 
the way up to educating the sculptor and engraver. 
The energy that Americans are giving to these 
practical forms of secondary training, explain, in 
some measure, our doing so much less than we 
ought in the work of academies or high schools. 

I now invite you to enter the third and last por- 
tion of the educational corridor, the place of the 
college and university. On the left hand is Pres- 
byterian Scotland, which, far more than people are 
aware of, has been the exemplar of the colleges 
and universities of America. At this very day, if 
you ask me what schools in the old world our chief 
colleges and universities most resemble, I answer, 
not the universities of Germany, for they relegate 



73 



the entire work of general training to the Gymnasia, 
which supply the place of both our high schools 
and colleges. Not any other continental system, 
because every one of them is further away from us 
than even Germany. Not the great English uni- 
versities, for they have never builded by their side 
the professional schools of law, medicine and engi- 
neering. Moreover, their colleges are primarily 
dormitories, each with its instruction in some meas- 
ure independent of the university proper. The 
real prototyes are Glasgow, Edinburgh, St. An- 
drews and Aberdeen. Harvard, Brown, Yale, Col- 
umbia, New York University, Cornell, Philadel- 
phia, Michigan and Chicago, if they have not each 
the entire six faculties of Edinburgh, namely, arts, 
science, law, medicine, divinity and music, have in 
every case the most of them. 

Unfortunately, the faculty of music is but slightly 
copied on this side of the Atlantic. The ballads, 
the soul-thrilling airs of old Scotland, the songs of 
Scott and Burns, are still waiting for a response to 
be echoed from the Alleghenies, the Rockies or the 
Sierra Nevada. This remark upon music is not 
wholly a digression, for if he was right who said 
" Let me make the songs of the people and I care 
not who makes their laws," certainly the education 
of America must depend much upon who writes 
her songs and her sacred hymns. The university 
on these shores that will lead in the exaltation of 
music and song, may do more to influence America 
than any other. 



74 



I return to ask you to look closely at the excel- 
lent points of college and university training in 
Presbyterian Scotland. Her four foundations date 
back, St. Andrews to 1411, Glasgow, to 1450, Aber- 
deen to 1494, Edinburgh to 1583. The income of 
the four reaches something over a half million dol- 
lars. They are not very rich as compared with the 
four richest American Universities, or with the 
wealthiest foundations of Germany. 

The distinguishing and admirable feature of 
these universities is the exact system upon which 
they are organized. Each and every one of them 
requires the same preliminary examination for ad- 
mission to the faculties of arts and science. No one 
is admitted to the Faculty of Divinity unless he 
has completed the subjects embraced in the curric- 
ulum of arts. No one can be examined for the de- 
gree of Bachelor of Laws unless he be a graduate 
in arts of a British University or a foreign univer- 
sity specially recognized. No one can begin med- 
ical study unless he has passed the preliminary ex- 
amination in general education. There is this same 
requirement for graduation in music. For gradua- 
tion in arts and science the requirements are much 
the same as those in the best colleges of America, 
except that only three years residence is absolutely 
demanded. Recently, also, certain of the Scotch 
universities have set up what may be the equiva- 
lent of the graduate schools of the foremost Ameri- 
can universities, and confer the degree of Doctor 
of Philosophy, Doctor of Science, or Doctor of 



75 



Letters, five years after they have received the or- 
dinary degree in arts or science. But in this 
matter of research in graduate arts and science, 
Scotch universities are already supassed by a few 
of our own universities. They are also far sur- 
passed by the great faculties of philosophy through- 
out Germany. 

Turning to the right hand of the corridor, we 
should like to compare the colleges and universi- 
ties of America with those of Scotland. We are 
bewildered first by the utter confusion in the 
naming of our schools, and second, by the lack of 
uniformity among them in the work undertaken 
for either the first degrees in arts and science or 
for the higher degrees, whether in arts and science 
or in divinity, medicine, law or technology. I sug- 
gest that there may be an important work for Pres- 
byterians who believe with Paul that " God is not 
the author of confusion." 

As to the matter of names, I have before me 
upon my desk two publications, one is the catalogue 
of Harvard University, a volume of more than half 
a thousand pages, showing how an annual income 
of over one million dollars is used in the support 
of three hundred and thirty instructors, and the 
teaching of over three thousand students. The 
other is also a circular of a university, I shall not 
mention its name, but it has two departments, the 
preparatory and the college. Among the studies 
of the preparatory department, are mental arith- 
metic, the fifth reader and spelling. The freshman 



\ 



76 



studies in full for the first term are the Greek 
reader, the Latin reader, general history, geometry 
and the Bible. The concluding studies covering 
the second term of the Senior year are the Greek 
Testament, logic, moral science, German and geol- 
ogy. This university is catalogued by the United 
States Government in the same list with Harvard, 
as if it occupied the same platform. The merchant 
who displays in his show window goods named 
broadcloth (meaning what everyone understands 
by broadcloth) has no right alongside of them to 
place a piece of shoddy and on it write the label 
broadcloth. Does not the United States lend it- 
self to false witness in its educational reports ? 

I take up from my desk the catalogue of another 
university, also honored with a place alongside of 
Harvard in the report of the Commissioner of Edu- 
cation. This university professes to include no 
less than twelve schools. I turn to the list of its 
Alumni which is published in this circular, and I 
lind that in the year 1895, it sent forth into the 
world four graduates whose first names are given 
in three instances, the first is Eddie, the second is 
Jennie, the third is Lutie, the Christian name of 
the fourth is concealed under the initials E. J. 
And there is no evidence that any of these gradu- 
ates has studied any language save the English. 
This is the contribution of an American University 
in the year of our Lord 1895, to the ranks of our 
educated citizens. Both the universities referred 
to are in the Mississippi Valley. I take up a third 



77 



catalogue, of a university in a northern State far- 
ther east. I find that in the list of its faculty the 
entire instruction in classics for both prepara- 
tory school and college, is carried on by a single 
professor; all the modern languages including the 
English language are taught by one young lady; all 
the natural sciences by a single instructor; the 
president teaches all the philosophy, and carries 
on the principal part of the school of theology. The 
Faculty comprises these four and no more. In 
theology students have a choice of two courses, the 
studies of the first term in the English theological 
course are algebra, the Old Testament, physics, 
and homiletics ; in the third year of theology, the 
Bible is omitted and the studies of the concluding 
term are botany, political economy, history and 
moral science. In the Latin theological course, 
this is improved upon by the substitution for his- 
tory, of Horace's Odes and Epistles. Seriously, 
this is the Alpha and Omega of the theological 
course of an American University, which is hon- 
ored with the name of university in our Govern- 
mental announcements. 

This same national report enrolls as a university 
a school in Ohio, which with rare good sense makes 
the following announcement in its circular : " Our 
resources not having increased in proportion to the 
requirements of the American College, we have 
deemed it wise to concentrate our energies upon 
building up a preparatory school." The only mis- 
take here is that they still wear the name univer- 



78 



sity, and are so published by our Government. 
Imagine the surprise of the intelligent European 
who procures the catalogues of American Universi- 
ties and opens this catalogue to page 7, which an- 
nounces "Blank University Primary School." 
"The age for admission is six years. The studies 
are reading from a chart and first reader." Still 
another university claims to consist of eight schools 
with eight faculties, yet one man attends to all the 
mathematics of the eight faculties ; a second man 
to all the classical languages, a third to English, 
and one lady to modern languages for all the four 
principal faculties. A Bachelor of Science, Atlas- 
like, shoulders for the five faculties, the whole 
world of nature. All this is done in one two- 
storied building costing $26,000, where men and 
women are made Doctors of Science and Doctors of 
Philosophy. The catalogue announces that the 
university has achieved " a phenomenal success." 
" The assets have been increased to over $10,000 
with but a slight indebtedness." It regrets that 
" the invested funds are now almost unproductive," 
but " the opportunities opening before this youth- 
ful university are almost unparalleled." This is in 
one of our great Northern States and in the name of 
one of our greatest Christian denominations. 

Here is a university in one of the greatest North- 
ern States. Its faculty, when you have subtracted 
a music teacher, a drawing master and a prepara- 
tory school teacher, consists of four or five persons. 
One man not only undertakes the whole world of 



79 



natural sciences, but also German ; another, not 
only the wealth of the Greek language and litera- 
ture, but also the French, and as if this were not 
enough, also all of English. This university with 
four professors, in a single year made four honor- 
ary Doctors of Divinity, and also adds an honorary 
Doctor of Law each year to the roll of those cre- 
ated by the great universities of the Old World 
and the New. 

It reminds me of nothing so much as of the days 
of wild cat banking. Many here remember the 
days of wild cat banking, when every cross roads, 
where the scream of the wild cat was still heard, 
set up its own bank and issued its currency, and 
what a harvest of frauds and failures followed. 
The result was that no bank bill was accepted for 
its face when it traveled far from home. Every 
American of intelligence, thanks God that the 
nation took up the task of systemizing our paper 
money and making it honest; a greenback now is 
good from ocean to ocean for its face value. Wild 
cat banks have gone, but wild cat universities and 
colleges are with us in large numbers. They have 
their origin from similar conditions. Universities 
and colleges are needed in every State. Over-am- 
bitious, although generally honest citizens in num- 
berless villages and cities, undertake to build a 
university or college for their neighborhood. 
Governmental regulation and restriction are want- 
ing. The result to-day is, seven score nominal 
universities with not more than a score and a half 



80 



of them that are considered by the editors of the 
book of universities and colleges, published in 
Strasburg, Germany, worthy to be included in that 
volume. The work of only three of them is fully 
recognized by the chief universities of Scotland in 
their catalogues. And yet poor little Scotland has 
less people and less wealth in all her borders than 
are found within sixty minutes ride of the Chan- 
cellor's office in the New York University building 
on Washington Square, East. 

How glorious for little Scotland that she can 
connect with her four universities so many great 
names ! 

St. Andrews claims John Knox and Thomas Chal- 
mers, Play fair, the great astronomer, and Duff the 
great missionary. Glasgow, such a philosopher as 
Sir William Hamilton, and scientist as Lord Kelwin, 
such a writer as John Wilson, and discoverer as 
Livingston. Edinburgh enrolls Dugald Stuart, 
while Aberdeen claims Thomas Heid. Such great 
names as David Hume, Thomas Carlyle, Edward 
Irving, Norman MacLeod, Lords Jeffrey and 
Brougham, John Witherspoon, William Robert- 
son the historian and Sir Walter Scott, are all on 
the catalogue of a single Scottish university. 

Reduce our 440 universities and colleges to 40 
universities, and 200 colleges, let the remaining 
200 become only academies, and we may then have 
in each university and college a source of just 
pride. 



81 



I have quoted to you extreme cases, but I am 
quoting from catalogues of the year 1895. I am 
not quoting from any catalogues save of schools 
that are named universities, and that in a volume, 
issued from the Government Printing Office at 
Washington, signed by the Commissioner of Educa- 
tion of the United States of America; a volume which 
enrolls about 140 universities in the United States 
and some 300 colleges. Were I to analyze also the 
colleges, I should present to you a far greater number 
of schools such as those I have named, that are 
hardly doing respectable work for a private acad- 
emy. Here, for example, is a college department 
of a university so called in one of our large cities. 
It consists of two classes, a senior class of one boy, 
and a sophomore class of one boy, with a faculty 
of four members. I will take the liberty of calling 
the professors by their first names : Mary teaches 
all the mathematics and English literature ; Emily 
all the natural sciences ; Arthur the classics, while 
the president as usual, takes care of the philosophy. 
This is the sum total of the college. 

In one of the oldest cities of the East, we have a 
college that claims in its annual catalogue that its 
classical instruction "includes the authors gener- 
ally studied in colleges." Yet the most advanced 
classical course for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, 
admits to freshman class boys with no Greek, and 
with only a year of Latin. I have known a sea 
board college to accept a youth who had been told 
that he must take another year in order to enter 



82 



classical freshman in New York University, and to 
graduate him within that same twelve months as a 
Bachelor of Arts, so that he was at once admitted 
to a Presbyterian Theological Seminary. 

Cannot Presbyterians attempt the work of re- 
form in regard to our entire classification of univer- 
sities and colleges 3 Cannot the United States find 
some way of calling nothing a university save what 
the civilized world have agreed shall be a univer- 
sity % To call only that a college which does part 
of the work of a University, at least the principal 
work in arts and science. 

Presbyterians have a vocation as reformers. 
They are surpassed by Methodists in far reaching 
activities ; by Congregationalists in assertion of in- 
dividual liberty ; by Baptists and Episcopalians 
and Lutherans in adherence to sacramental and 
liturgical forms, but they have a genius from the 
days of John Knox and John Calvin for calling 
things by their right names, for plain speaking, 
for a devotion to order and system. 

My old teacher Dr. Charles Hodge used to claim 
that though our banner did not bear in largest let- 
ters the word "liberty," or the word "worship" 
or " order," yet it did blaze forth the word " truth." 
Well, we want truth as to higher education. 

John Locke says : " The best way to come to truth 
is to examine things as really they are, and not to 
conclude they are, as we fancy of ourselves or have 
been taught of others to imagine." To dream that 
we are in anything like satisfactory shape as to 



83 



higher education in the United States, is to dwell 
in a fool's paradise. 

Our honored ex-President, Benjamin Harrison, 
last Friday in New York, declared that Presbyter- 
ians were the pioneers of higher education in a 
great part of America. That is true. But these 
are not pioneer times any more. We cannot sub- 
sist any longer on the log college tradition. Rail- 
roads and telegraph make all our States Eastern 
States. Let no State plead youth any longer as an 
excuse for sham or superficiary. 

I am here to make you restless — to render you 
dissatisfied — to rally you to new activity in educa- 
tion. In the Revolution, whether in Congress or 
battle, or constitutional convention, Presbyterians 
were leaders. A revolution and reform of our sys- 
tem of education is needed. Who will dare take 
the leader's part % 

I should rather see the Presbyterians inaugurate 
and carry through such measures as would put the 
United States on the same platform with Presby- 
terian Scotland as regards system and order in edu- 
cation, and the truthful naming of her schools, than 
to see them endow a university as richly as the 
Baptists have endowed that of Chicago. 

I urge upon the Presbyterians of Washington 
City, this work of reform. It can be achieved 
only by legislation, and you who live near the 
Capitol, know best how to legislate. The Christian 
men that lived near the Caesars in Rome, were wise 
in using their neighborship to governmental power 



84 



and activity for many a good purpose. This was 
the chief reason that the Church of Rome became a 
leader. They helped their fellow-citizens in every 
corner of the Empire. You, in some degree, can, 
like them, influence the Government for good ends. 

The task I propose, is a difficult one. It includes 
the establishment by all our States in common, of 
a minimum standard for schools to be known as 
colleges, and a broader standard for schools to be 
known as universities. The assisting of many 
schools throughout our forty-four States to reform 
their work if need be, so that they may take a 
place in one or the other of these classes, or the aid- 
ing of them to become high schools or academies. 
The securing probably by the appropriation of 
money, of the consent of from one hundred to two 
hundred of the schools now possessing charters as 
universities or colleges to take instead the more 
modest name of high schools or academies. By 
giving them solid endowment you may tempt the 
so-called university that now starves at few teachers, 
and cheats a few students, to become an honest, 
self-respecting country academy. 

The most liberal gift to education ever made by 
the United States was the gift to the States for the 
agricultural colleges a generation ago, in 1862. 
Each State received 30,000 acres of land for each 
Senator and Representative in Congress. In all, 
48 colleges and universities have been aided 
thereby. The total value of the gift was not far 
from live millions of dollars. Able statesmen 



85 



could, by apportioning among our 44 States, no 
larger sum than was given in '62, and renewing it 
for a few years, secure from each of them such action 
as would organize on a common basis, the universi- 
ties, colleges and high schools of our continent. 
The problem would be a difficult one, but for that 
reason ought to be attractive to statesmen and Pres- 
byterians. The work may seem to some a costly one, 
but the return would be larger for the outlay than 
for any appropriation Congress can offer. 

Why should not this centennial lead to the or- 
ganization, by the Presbyterians of Washington, 
of an association for the reform of higher education 
in the United States % I do not mean to monopolize 
it ; simply that you take the lead, asking all others 
to join. Your neighbors here are doing important 
work for higher education. Methodists in Wash- 
ington are building the American University ; Bap- 
tists in Washington are sustaining the Columbian 
University ; Catholics are endowing the Catholic 
University. Your fellow-citizens in other cities 
are attempting large things for universities, espec- 
ially the people of Chicago and New York. In the 
Western Metropolis million upon million has been 
placed in the coffers of the three universities. In 
New York the amounts given are less imposing, 
but a great beginning of liberality has been mani- 
fested within the last five years. Within six 
months half a million dollars has been pledged to 
me for the New York University, chiefly by Pres- 
byterians. Presbyterians in other cities are giving 



86 



money for higher education; cannot Presbyterians 
in Washington City resolve to-night to inaugurate 
an effort for legislation that would send a new cur- 
rent of life into every state of the Union ? Albeit, 
our American people are involved in a complication 
of false pretenses in regard to education ; it does 
not follow that they are in love with this business. 
They would welcome deliverance, they would bless 
the name of the statesman that would redeem every 
State of the Union from presenting to the world as 
broadcloth what is only shoddy, as pure milk that 
which is half water, as universities what are gram- 
mer schools, as colleges what are only tolerable 
private academies. 

Were we to spend for river and harbor improve- 
ments by the coming Congress, only three-fourths 
of the twenty millions proposed and give a fourth 
of it to systematizing higher education it were better 
than to let things drift as they have drifted for a 
generation. T recognize fully the lack of power in 
the Central Government to shape directly the work 
of education in any State. But money answereth 
all things, and the people really want to be led in 
this matter. The suggestion of this entire address 
came from letters written to me from west of the 
Mississippi. It were not a difficult task to sketch 
alegis lative measure which would cover the objects, 
which need to be accomplished. 

This act of Congress should appropriate for a 
few years in succession a certain amount of money 
to be apportioned to all the States according to the 



87 



population of each. No payment to be made to 
any State nntil proof shall have been given the 
Government at Washington that snch State has 
by statute provided fully for the four objects 
named below, subject to any restrictions imposed 
upon the State by its own Constitution, especially 
restrictions in regard to sectarian institutions. 
The four objects are : 

1st. The acceptance by the State of the minimum 
property standard (to be prescribed uniformly for 
the entire nation in the act of Congress) for every 
corporation hereafter to be chartered to confer col- 
lege degrees in art and science, the same also for 
every corporation giving degrees in medicine, law, 
pedagogy and technology. 

2d. The acceptance by the State in like manner 
of the recommendation of Congress respecting a 
minimum entrance standard and minimum gradua- 
tion standard to be required of every college and 
university hereafter to be incorporated. 

3d. The distribution by the State of a certain 
sum (to be prescribed by the act of Congress) to 
existing corporations chartered as universities and 
colleges, but which fall below the recommended 
standard, on condition that they become secondary 
schools henceforth and surrender their right to 
confer degrees. 

4th. The distribution by the State of a certain 
sum, prescribed by Congress, to those universities 
and colleges in each State that may already possess 
the minimum property requirement for college 



88 

work or for university work, on condition that 
they accept and enforce the national standard for 
entrace and graduation, as respects each and every 
degree in arts and science, medicine, law, pedagogy 
or technology. 

In the meantime a preliminary act should be 
passed by Congress instructing the Commissioner 
of Education to classify in his annual reports all 
degree-giving corporations, first, according to a 
certain property standard carefully arranged ; sec- 
ond, according to entrance and graduation stand- 
ards clearly defined. 

The German Empire has given recently to the 
single university of Strassburg, a neAv foundation 
in the conquered province of Alsace-Lorrain, lands 
and buildings costing near four millions of dollars, 
equal to six or seven millions in the United States, 
and a yearly appropriation of nearly a quarter of a 
million dollars, equal to an endowment of six or seven 
millions of dollars more. It was a magnanimous 
gift to the people taken away from France. A gift 
no larger than this by the United States, appor- 
tioned by po}3ulation to our forty-five States, would 
regenerate our higher education. 

You may answer, this would tax the richer 
Eastern States who pay most of the duties for 
the benefit of that half of the population 
which lives west of the Ohio. Why not % The 
surplus wealth flows eastward. Send back part of 
it, with at least as much generosity as Germany 
showed when she used the French war indemnity to 
build a great university west of the Rhine. 



89 



I approve Mr. Rockefeller for sending his mil- 
lions to Chicago. He conld hardly have done bet- 
ter. But he has simply made one more university, 
albeit, a great university. I ask the United States 
to give no more than this gift of a single man, to 
repeat it for a few years, and to do it wisely, and, 
instead of building merely one university, it will 
give a better life to every one of the four hundred 
and forty schools, named colleges and universities, 
to the four thousand to five thousand, named high 
schools and academies, and so will touch and affect 
every common school and every home in our nation. 

As the compelling of our banks to be strong and 
honest in their issues of money touches the busi- 
ness of the smallest street stand in your city, or 
the pettiest country store in Arizona, so, to make 
our higher schools strong and honest in their send- 
ing out of bachelors, masters and doctors in each 
branch of study, will give impulse to every school 
on our broad continent. 

As I came into Washington from New York and 
approached your city, rising magnificently against 
the bright western sky, I looked from the car win- 
dow and marked how there now rises a trinity of 
architectural grandeur, the National Library, the 
National Capitol and the Monument of Washing- 
ton. They seemed to my point of view as if standing 
in one group. I said to myself, " These three rep- 
resent knowledge and law and highest character. 
The nation cares for knowledge for the sake of right 
government and laws, but after all the ultimate is 



90 



the perfect man." I looked, and while at first the 
Library seemed to be foremost and nearest, and the 
Monument of Washington furthest away, as the 
train came on its way the Monument seemed to ad- 
vance and took the first place against the sunset 
heaven. Character, after all, is the first thing. 
Government and knowledge are merely means to 
the end. 

I speak to-night for a better system of higher 
education, not for the sake of mere knowledge, not 
for the advancement of government alone and law, 
but because it will promote individual well-being 
and manhood. It will make knowledge and law 
and manly worth, each of them brighter in America 
against all the western sky. 



Wednesday Evetiing t November zo, 1895. 

tfite iyse, Progress and Influence of 

pi?EgByite^i^ig]V[ 

In the District of Columbia. 
13. F. BITTINGER, I). D. 

In the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, 
visitors are shown a black marble slab bearing the 
following inscription, referring to Sir Christopher 
Wren, the architect of the edifice : " Si monumen- 
tum requiris, cir cum spice" — If you ask for his 
monument, look about you. So, in answer to the 
queslion which may be suggested by these centen- 
nial services, "What does Presbyterianism in this 
city and district stand for, and what its influence 
during the past hundred years V I would say, 
" Look about you." Look in your pulpits; look 
in your halls of learning ; look in your courts of 
justice ; look in your Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation ; look in your public schools ; look in your 
Bible Society ; look in your learned professions ; 
look in the several Departments of the Govern- 
ment, and look in the office of Presidents of the 
nation, for it is a fact that in all these various po- 
sitions of honor and usefulness, aye, in almost 



92 



every position of public trust, have been, or are 
now, those who have been brought up under Pres- 
byterian training and influences, and have been 
either communicants or regular attendants upon the 
services of our local churches. Lest it may seem 
to some to be an extravagant claim, so far as the ■ 
attendance of Presidents is concerned, I make a 
slight digression to say that Washington and Jef- 
ferson were known to have worshipped in the old 
Bridge Street Church ; William Henry Harrison 
and Buchanan in the F Street Church ; Adams and 
Jackson in the Second Church ; Lincoln in the New 
York Avenue Church ; Jackson, Polk, Pierce and 
Cleveland in the First Church, and Benjamin Har- 
rison in the Church of the Covenant. Yes, to-day, 
as in former days, and here, as in all other places 
where its scriptural doctrines have been preached 
and its equally scriptural form of government ob- 
served, Presby terianism stands for education, intel- 
ligence, morality, patriotism and the conservation 
and maintenance of those divine principles, the 
practical application of which to human character 
and conduct changes the moral nature of men, re- 
stores them to the favor of God and secures for 
them the highest form of happiness, both in the 
present world and in that which is to come. 

I would not be understood, however, as setting 
up for Presbyterianism an exclusive claim to the 
possession of the exalted excellencies just men- 
tioned. I simply magnify its predestined glorious 
heritage, and am willing to share it with all others 



93 



who recognize the sovereignty of God, accept the 
Lord Jesns Christ as the eternal Son of God and 
all-sufficient Savionr, adopt the Scriptures of the 
Old and New Testaments as the divinely inspired 
and authoritative and infallible rule of faith and 
practice, and, recognizing a Spiritual brotherhood, 
labor together in preserving the unity of the spirit 
in the bond of peace. 

But important as may be these principles, it is 
not my purpose this evening to illustrate or defend 
them in their application to the present character 
and the future destiny of men. The part assigned 
to me on the present occasion is rather to magnify 
them as operative in the rise, growth and progress 
of our beloved Church in this city and district, 
from its origin to the present time. 

For the sake of convenience, and as a simple ar- 
rangement of the facts and incidents embraced in 
the history of Presbyterianism during the past hun- 
dred years, I will classify them under three periods; 
the first period extending to 1823, the time of the 
organization of the Presbytery of the District of 
Columbia : the second extending to 1870, the time 
of the formation of the Presbytery of Washington 
City, and the third embracing the intervening years 
to the present day. Recognizing and emphasizing 
the fact that to this church belongs the honor of 
instituting efforts leading to the establishment of 
Presbyterianism in this city, I also recognize the 
necessity for recording the beginnings of Presby- 
terianism in the District of Columbia, dating as far 



94 



back as 1780, under the missionary labors of the 
Rev. Dr. Stephen Bloomer Balch, in what then, 
and until recently, was known as Georgetown. 
Prior to this time, however, about the , year 1761, 
there was a church at " Captain John's," now 
known as u Cabin John," of which Rev. James 
Hunt was pastor, and upon the services of # which 
many of the early Presbyterians residing af or near 
the site of Georgetown attended. Indeed, the Leg- 
islature of Maryland passed an act enabling Mr. 
Hunt to convey to William Deakins, Jr., a lot of 
ground called " Scotland lot " in exchange for other 
ground which is believed to be the site of the old 
Bridge Street Church, the same having been con- 
veyed to said Hunt and his successors in trust for- 
ever for the Presbyterian Society and members of 
the Church of Scotland, the successors of said 
Hunt being regular ministers of the gospel.* Sub- 
sequently Mr. Hunt became the principal of an 
academy, one of the pupils of which was William 
Wirt, afterwards Attorney-General of the United 
States. 

* I am indebted to the courtesy of Hugh T. Taggert, Esq., As- 
sistant District Attorney, for a photographic facsimile, which, as 
a curiosity, I reproduce verbatim et literatim, spelling, punctua. 
tion and all : 

" Be it Remembert that in the year 1768 I Jacob Funk Laid out 
a certing pece of ground King betwin Rock Grik and Goos Grick 
on petoinik in prince georges count)' niariland into lots for atown 
Called Hamborg. I solt two lots in the year 1768 to the duch 
gearmings in sead Town of hamborg, one No. 75 to the gearming 
prespoterings Congregeation, for a churg & bearing ground for 
wich sead lot I have Receaved five pounts Corent money of the 
aforsead Congrogeation it being in full for the above lot. And 



95 



Simply by way of magnifying the honorable lin- 
eage of Presbyterian ministers, Rev. Hezekiah James 
Balch, brother of Dr. Stephen Bloomer Balch, was 
appointed, with two other Presbyterian ministers, 
a committee to prepare the famous Declaration 
adopted by the Mecklenburg Convention, and which 
contained the germ of the grander Declaration of 
July 4, 1776. Of the members of this Convention 
it is said one-third were Presbyterians. 

In 1780 the Rev. Dr. Balch, then a licentiate 
under the care of the old Presbytery of Donegal, 
under whose authority the earliest of our Church 
organizations in this region were effected, and, com- 
missioned as an evangelist, preached to a few per- 
sons, principally of Scotch and New England 
descent. So favorable was the impression made 
upon the people that they invited him to settle 
among them with the view of gathering a congrega- 
tion on the basis of adherence to the form of wor- 
ship and government in which they had been 

also lot No 183 to the gearinon lutharing Congrogation for a Churg 
& Bearing ground for which sead lot I Receaved five pounts Co- 
rent money of the luthering Congrogation it being in full for said 
lot 

" Rec By Jacob Funk. 

" To the cear of andonis gosler ) 
and Daniel Reinzel." ) 

In connection with the above, I state that in 1881, in a suit in 
equity brought by J. W. Kbbingaus against J. G. Killians et al. , in- 
volving the legal right of the Concordia Lutheran Church to the 
lot of ground adjoining it, Judge Ilagner delivered the decision of 
the court that the exchange of lot No. 9, in square 80, by D. Rein- 
zel for lot 75 on Funk's plat, for the benefit of the "Calvin Society," 
was vested in the First Reformed Church, Washington, D. C, as 
the successor in faith of the Calvin Society. What connection 
may have been between the " Calvin Society " and the " Presby- 
terian Society " before mentioned, I have not been able to ascertain. 



96 



instructed and trained. At first they worshipped 
in the woods skirting the settlement, and from 
house to house ; afterwards in a little log building 
on the site of the Lutheran burying-ground, corner 
of High and Fourth streets. Subsequently Dr. 
Balch preached for a short time in a small wooden 
building at the corner of Bridge and Market streets, 
not far from the present terminus of the Washing- 
ton and Georgetown street railway. Unfortunately 
for historical accuracy, we have no official record of 
the precise date of organization of a church, the 
records of the Session being destroyed in the burn- 
ing of Dr. Balch' s dwelling, in 1831, he and his 
wife barely escaping with their lives. 

Tradition, however, dates the organization of the 
church, afterwards and until 1879, known as the 
Bridge Street Church, in the latter part of the year 
1780, with a Mr. Orme the first, and for many years, 
only ruling elder. At the first communion only 
seven persons participated in the holy ordinance. 
In 1783 a church edifice was erected on the site of 
the Bridge Street Church. The congregation 
rapidly increased, so that the church building, 
originally erected in 1782, was enlarged in 1793, 
1801, 1810. The increase of attendants was due not 
only to the popularity of Dr. Balch as a man and a 
preacher, but also to the fact that at that time there 
was no other Protestant church this side of Alex- 
andria, while Washington came from Mt. Vernon 
to worship in the church. Mr. Jefferson, then a 
resident of Georgetown, frequently attended upon 



97 



its services, as also did the first Secretary of the 
Treasury, Albert Gallatin, both of whom were con- 
tributors to the afore-mentioned enlargement of the 
church building.* Indeed, it was customary for the 
officers of the Government to attend worship in 
this church. And what is worthy of honorable 
mention is the fact that for many years all denomi- 
nations, Methodists, Episcopalians, and Baptists, 
worshipped with Presbyterians in the same house, 
and sat together at the same communion table, thus 
furnishing a beautiful illustration of the commun- 
ion of the Saints. Subsequently, when other denom- 
inations erected houses of worship, the same frater- 
nal feeling prevailed, Dr. Balch being invited to 
take part in the dedication services of the Episco- 
pal and other churches, and all the pastors and 
their people uniting in prayer meetings from 
church to churches. 

Organic denominational union may not yet seem 
to be practicable, but it must be confessed that, at 
the time referred to, there was, at the least, the recog- 
nition of the parity of the ministry, the interchange 
of pulpits, and the practical acknowledgment among 
Christians that there is one Lord, one Faith, one 
Baptism, and one God and Father of all. Let his- 

*A short time ago one of the " oldest inhabitants " of George- 
town pointed out to me the house in which Mr. Jefferson, after- 
wards President of the United States, resided. The house is sit- 
uated on a street called by his name, on the east side of the street, 
and directly south of the canal. At the time, he was Secretary of 
State under President Washington. More recently it was occupied 
as an office by Mr. Benjamin R. Mayfield, an Elder of the West 
Street Presbyterian Church. 



98 



tory in this form of union repeat itself among ns at 
the present time, and the world will be compelled 
to admit that Christians can dwell together in 
unity ; the five points of Calvinism, the remon- 
strances of Arminianism, the frowning canons of 
Episcopacy, and the excessive water claims of Bap- 
tists to the contrary notwithstanding. 

In 1821 a new building was erected, of large and 
commodious dimensions, which remained as the 
church home of Presbyterians until the year 1879, 
when it was abandoned as a place of worship, and 
the present West Street Church dedicated 

Dr. Balch continued his pastorate until his death, 
September 7, 1833, he being at the time in the 
eighty-seventh year of his age, and in the fifty-third 
year of his pastorate ; and if the claim be well 
founded, the oldest Presbyterian in the United 
States. In respect for his worth the municipal 
authorities attended his funeral in a body, business 
was suspended, and the streets were draped in 
mourning. 

Dr. Balch, true to his Presbyterian lineage, did 
not believe in the celibacy of the clergy, and proved 
his faith by his works, having himself been married 
three times. So strong, indeed, were his convic- 
tions on this subject that he never delivered a 
charge to a newly-installed pastor without empha- 
sizing the scriptural qualifications of a Bishop, 
that lie be not only blameless, but also the husband 
of one wife. I mention this fact by way of re- 
minder to my younger brethren of the ministry, 



99 



presuming as a matter course, that they will take 
due notice and govern themselves accordingly. 

It does not surprise us, therefore, to learn that 
the services of Dr. Balch were in frequent demand 
by those wishing to be married — so frequent, indeed, 
that before going out in the morning he left partic- 
ular directions as to his whereabouts. One day, 
however, even after diligent inquiry and search, 
he could not be found, much to the disappointment 
of several couples who sought his official sanction 
and blessing. Observing their impatience, and 
desirous of putting an end to their suspense, one 
of his sons, in a prankish feat, and with neither 
ban nor surplice, went through a form of marriage, 
the parties being none the wiser, and, it is hoped, 
not the less happy for being married by the son 
instead of the father. 

It is also one of the traditions of the family, that 
such was the restiveness of another of the sons 
when quite young, that the Doctor was accustomed 
to take him into the pulpit in order to restrain his 
irrepressible mischief. But <fc the old Adam was too 
strong for the young Melancthon," as was seen in 
the youngster, during the long prayer, picking up 
his father's spectacles from the ledge of the pulpit 
and adjusting them to his nose and opening a hymn 
book, said with comical gravity : " While father is 
praying, let us sing a hime." 

Time, however, cured these juvenile indiscretions, 
for one of the sons became a grave judge in Florida, 
two became eminent jurists, and the other a Pres- 



100 



byterian minister, Rev. Thomas B. Balch, whose 
eccentricity was exceeded only by his voluminous 
literary attainments. 

In 1823 Rev. John N. Campbell became an assist- 
ant to Dr. Balch ; in 1832 Rev. John C. Smith, D. 
D., was elected co-pastor, and became pastor in 
1833, resigning in 1839 to accept a call to the Fourth 
Church, Washington City. 

The following is the succession of pastors : 

Stephen Bloomer, Balch, D.D., 1 780-1 833 ; John C. Smith, 1833- 
1838 ; Rev. Robert T. Berry, 1841-1849 ; John M. P. Atkinson, D. D., 
1850-1856 ; John H. Bocock, D. D., 1857-1861 ; Rev. Archibald A. E, 
Taylor, D. D., 1865-1869 ; Frederick T. Brown, D. D., 1862-1865 ; 
David W.W.Moffat, D. D., 1870-1872 ; Samuel H. Howe, D. D., 
1873-1883 ; Thomas Fullerton, D. D., 1885-1892 ; William C. Alex- 
ander, D. D., 1893. 

In my characterization of Presbyterianism, I said 
it stood for education, as confirmatory of which I 
point to the fact that, in its early establishment in 
Georgetown, there existed several schools of learn- 
ing which doubtless exerted a wide and wholesome 
influence. For a number of years Dr. Balch con- 
ducted one of these schools which had been founded 
by Rev. Dr. Wylie, he being succeeded by Rev. Dr. 
Carnahan, afterwards President of Princeton Col- 
lege, and then by Rev. James McVean, at that time 
one of the first classical scholars in the United States, 
all of whom were Presbyterian ministers. In the 
school taught by Rev. James McVean a large 
number of young men was prepared for college, 
while others received that instruction and religious 
training which fitted them for the ministry, for the 
learned professions, for business and for prominent 



101 



positions under the National Government. Speak- 
ing from my personal knowledge, I may say that, 
from this school, there went forth one of the early 
missionaries of our Foreign Board to China, Rev. 
John B. French ; two who afterwards became gen- 
erals in the United States Army, Generals Getty 
and Pleasanton; another, who became an Admiral in 
the United States Navy, Admiral Semmes ; besides 
many others, who became ministers of the Gospel, 
or adorned the medical and legal professions, or 
attained to distinction in offices of honor and trust 
under the National Government. Even to-day I 
recall among the living a professor in the Univer- 
sity of Princeton, Henry C. Cameron, D. D.; the 
Secretary of our Board of Publication, Elijah R. 
Craven, D. D.; Hon. William A. Butler, an eminent 
jurist, New York ; and a learned judge of our Dis- 
trict Court, Hon. Alexander B. Hagner ; besides 
many others in various parts of the country, whose 
names I pass over. 

History, Mr. President, is impartial and will not 
tolerate any concealment or suppression of the 
truth, compelling me to say that, in addition to 
those just mentioned who went forth from this 
school of learning, conducted under Presbyterian 
auspices, was one who, in after years, attained to 
the high and honorable position of Stated Clerk of 
the Presbytery of Washington City, and is the 
author of what some regard a valuable manual of 
Presbyterian Law and Usage. 



i02 

Nor in this connection must I omit the mention 
of another institution of learning, also conducted 
by a daughter of a Presbyterian elder, I mean the 
Georgetown Young Ladies' Seminary, founded in 
1826 by Miss Lydia S. English. From this school, 
as from the one just mentioned, there went forth 
those who occupied the highest social position, 
some of whom became teachers, and all, in various 
ways, exerted that wholesome influence which ever 
makes itself felt in the home circle, and in every 
other condition where womanly piety, grace, intel- 
ligence and refinement are recognized and appreci- 
ated. I do only justice to the memory of this esti- 
mable lady to say that, in the curriculum of studies 
pursued in her school, there was no special course 
provided for the graduation of the "new woman," 
this creation of the latter part of the nineteenth 
century having not then found either her sphere or 
her apparel. 

It is also a fact not generally known, that under 
Presbyterian influences, was nursed the germ of 
what afterwards developed into our present excel- 
lent Public School system. In 1811, Mr. Robert 
Ould, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and 
the father of one of our District Attorneys, became 
the principal of a school conducted according to a 
system devised by Joseph Lancaster of England, 
in the interests especially of indigent children. 
The idea, however, was not original with Mr. Lan- 
caster, but with John Calvin, with whose name the 
world associates, not only the idea of a free school, 



103 



but also a free Church and a free State. I will not 
dwell upon this point, however, contenting myself 
with a passing illusion worthy of historical record, 
and also comfirmatory of the claim made for Presby- 
terianism that in the past as in the present, it has 
stood and now stands, not only as the pioneer of 
religion, but also of education. 

In the beginning of the century, when Washing- 
ton City became the seat of the National Govern- 
ment, Rev. James Laurie, D. D., a graduate of the 
University of Edinburg, at the urgent solicitation 
of the Rev. John M. Mason, D. D., of New York, 
emigrated to this country. The yellow fever pre- 
vailing in New York at the time of his arrival, he 
went to Philadelphia, and after a few weeks' 
sojourn there, came to this city. Several Presby- 
terians, among whom was Mr. Michael Nourse, the 
father of our recently deceased brother, Prof. 
Joseph E. Nourse, invited him to settle, and gather 
into a church the scattered Presbyterians then in 
the village ; for at that time this city existed only 
on paper and in the land-marks of the surveyor. 
In after years, Dr. Laurie was heard to say that 
on the way thither, and after passing through an 
almost uninhabited waste, he inquired of the stage 
driver how far it was to Washington and received 
for answer : " Sir, we have been driving through it 
for the last two hours." Even then it was, con- 
structively at least, a city of magnificent distances. 

In 1803 the Session of Bridge Street Church, 
Georgetown, dismissed sixteen families, which, 



104 

together with others, were organized into what was 
formerly known as the F Street Church. It is 
probable that Dr. Laurie was installed pastor of the 
infant church about the same time, that is, in June, 
1803. At first this little band of Presbyterians 
worshipped in the old Treasury building, until it 
was burned by our British brethren, who, not know- 
ing nor caring that the building held such a precious 
deposit, consigned it, with the other public build- 
ings, to the flames. This fact, however, only devel- 
oped in the sturdy descendants of Calvin and Knox 
the strength of their belief in the doctrine of the 
perseverance of the saints, and gave them fresh cour- 
age in obtaining a more convenient and permanent 
church home, so that in 1807 a neat and, for that 
day, elegant, brick edifice was erected and opened 
for divine worship. It was the first place of Prot- 
estant worship erected in this city, and occupied 
the site of the present Willard's Hall. In this 
house Dr. Laurie preached until the time of his 
death, April 18, 1853, aged 75, having served the 
church fifty years. 

At first Dr. Laurie and his congregation were 
connected with the Associate Reformed Church, and 
continued this relation until 1823, when they became 
connected with our General Assembly, under the 
care of the Presbytery of the District of Columbia. 
On the death of Dr. Laurie, Rev. Phineas D. 
Grurley, D. D., succeeded to the pastorate, in the 
year 1854, who, on the union of the church with 
the Second Church, in 1859, was elected pastor of 
the united congregations. 



105 



The following is the succession of pastors : 

James L,aurie, D. D., 1803-1853 ; Septimus Tustin, D. D., from 
1839 to 1845 ; Rev. Ninian Bannatyne, from 1845 to 1848 ; Rev. Levi 
H. Christian, 1850; David X. Junkin, D. D., from 1850 to 1854; 
Phineas D. Gurley, D. D., from 1854 to 1859. 

The next church in the order of its organization 
is the First, and, strictly speaking, so far as elforts 
were made in gathering together the scattered 
Presbyterians in the then embryo city, it may justly 
claim the title. Its organization, however, was not 
effected until September 15, 1812. In 1795, how- 
ever, it appears from the records of the Presbytery 
of Baltimore that, acting under direction of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, it commissioned Rev. John Bracken- 
ridge, one of its members, to labor in the city of 
Washington. At first the congregation was very 
small, and met for worship in a carpenter's shop 
that was used by the workmen employed in the erec- 
tion of the President's House. Subsequently they 
worshipped in a small frame chapel erected on F 
Street, near Tenth. We hear nothing again of Mr. 
Brackenridge and his little flock until 1809, when, 
under his commission from the Presbytery of Balti- 
more, he shared with them his time as a supply to 
the people of Bladensburg, his services in this city 
being held once in three weeks in what was then 
known as " The Academy East," the only suitable 
place that could be procured. The probable date 
of the organization of the church is 1811, although 
there is no official minutes of meetings of the ses- 
sion prior to September 15, 1812, the same year in 
which Mr. Brackenridge was formally called to the 



106 



pastorate of the church, his installation being in 
the following year, 1812, July 4. Vacating " The 
Academy East," services were held in one of the 
rooms of the north wing of the Capitol. The con- 
gregation grew in numbers, and the peojjle were 
much encouraged, so that, on the 20th of June, 
1812, they occupied, for the first time, what was 
commonly called the " Little White Church under 
the Hill," situated on First Street, about midway 
between the abandoned Georgetown and Washing- 
ton car stables, and what is known as the Butler 
building. A daughter of one of the original mem- 
bers of this church told me a few days ago that 
she remembered her mother speak of walking, on 
the Sabbath, to this " Little White Church," not 
through paved streets, nor on brick sidewalks, but 
by a narrow foot-path, partly overgrown by grass 
and weeds, the way to Zion being literally a narrow 
way. 

This reminiscence of streets overgrown by grass 
brings to mind another mentioned in connection 
with the early history of this city, on one of the 
streets of which was to be seen a sign-board bear- 
ing the following inscription : " Peter Eogers, sad- 
dler, from the green fields of Erin and tyrrany to 
the green streets of Washington and liberty." 

In 1817 the pastoral relation of Dr. Brackenridge 
was dissolved, and in 1841 he died. 

Dr. Brackenridge could not say, Mr. President, 
what you and I and a majority of our brethren in 
the ministry can say, always excluding certain real 



107 



estate in some cemetery, " Not one foot of land do 
I possess," for he was the possessor of more than 
40 acres of land, which was sold to the late Wm. 
W. Corcoran, and by him to the Government for 
the park known as Soldiers' Home, in which now 
may be fonnd his bnrial place, marked by a stone 
bearing the following inscription: "Rev. John 
Brackenridge ; died May 2, 1841 ; the first Presby- 
terian preacher in Washington City, and who also 
served the Church at Bladensburg 40 years." I 
further say, in passing, that, while Soldiers' Home 
contains the mortal remains of this historic man of 
God, his writing-desk, made an hundred years ago, 
is in the possession of Mr. S. W. Handy, a member 
of Westminster Church. 

In 1819 Rev. Reuben Post, D. D., succeeded him 
in the pastorate, continuing therein until 1836. 
Shortly after his installation, measures were taken 
for the erection of a new church on 4£ Street, the 
site of the present building. 

This church edifice was dedicated December 9, 
1827. It was enlarged in 1869 and remodeled in 
1892, as we find it to-day. 

The following is the succession of pastors . 

John Brackenridge, D. D., 1795-1817 ; Reuben Post, D. D., 1819- 
1836 ; William McLain, D. D., 1836-1840 ; Rev. Charles Rich, 1840- 
1843 ; William T. Sprole, D.D., 1843-1847 ; Rev. Elisha Ballantine, 
1847-185 1 ; Byron Sunderland, D. D., 1853 — ; Rev. Adolos Allen, 
1894— ; Thomas De Witt Talmage, 1895—. 

In 1820, May 9, by order of the Presbytery of 
Baltimore, the Second Church was organized. The 
edifice first erected was on the present site of the 



108 



New York Avenue Church, and was opened for 
Divine service December 23, 1821. 

Prior to this time, however, the congregation held 
religious services in one of the rooms of the Navy 
Department, conducted by Rev. Joshua T. Russel, 
and also by Rev. John N. Campbell, until the elec- 
tion of a pastor, Rev. Daniel Baker, in 1821, who 
continued as such until 1828. After Dr. Baker, the 
church was supplied by Rev. John N. Campbell 
until 1830, and from which time, successively, until 
1849, by Revs. E. D. Smith, P. H. Fowler, George 
Wood and James R. Eckard. In 1853 it tranferred 
its connection from the Presbytery of the District 
of Columbia to the Presbytery of Baltimore. From 
the records of the Board of Trustees of the Second 
Church it appears that President Adams and Mr. 
Southard, Secretary of the Navy, were among its 
trustees, being regular attendants upon its services, 
the former loaning it a sum of money with the 
stipulation that no interest should be paid for its 
use. President Jackson also was a pewholder. 

Under the conviction that the cause of Christ 
and the interest of Presbyterianism would be sub- 
served by the union of the Second Church with the 
F Street Church, such union was amicably consum- 
mated July 30, 1859, under the name and title of 
the New York Avenue Church, with Rev. Phineas 
D. Ghrrley, D. D., as the pastor. The F Street 
property was sold, now Willard's Hall, and the 
present handsome and commodious edifice erected 
on its present site, formerly owned by the Second 
Church. 



109 



Previous to this time, in 1829, during the pastor- 
ate of Dr. Laurie, mutual overtures were made for 
a union of these churches, but which, for some rea- 
son, failed of practical elfect. I also discovered, 
on brushing off the dust from the musty records of 
the Second Church, that the trustees offered to sell 
its house of worship to the Central Baptist Church, 
but which offer was declined, whether because of 
the impecuniosity of the Baptist Church at that 
time, or the absence in the Second Church of suf- 
ficient water privileges, the records do not state. 

From this congregation a colony went forth and 
formed the North Church. It has also planted 
three missions ; one, Gurley Chapel ; another, 
Bethany Chapel ; and the third, Faith Chapel, 
under the care of Rev. Edward Warren. 

The following is the succession of pastors : 

Phineas D. Gurley, D. D., 1854-1868 ; Samuel S. Mitchell, D. D., 
1869-1878 ; John R. Paxton, D. D., 1878-1882 ; William A. Bartlett, 
1882-1894 ; Wallace Radcliffe, D. D., 1895-. 

In 1828 dissatisfaction was expressed by a num- 
ber of persons connected with the Second Church 
at what they believed to be an unfair procedure in 
the election of a successor to Rev. Daniel Baker, 
who had accepted a call to a church in Savannah, 
which resulted in the formation of the Central 
Presbyterian Society of Washington City, under 
the care of Rev. Joshua N". Danforth, D. D. Sub- 
sequently a church was organized under the name 
and title of the Fourth Church. At first, services 
were held in a small building directly opposite to 
the present edifice. Mr. Danforth was succeded by 



110 



Rev. Mason Noble, D. D., whose pastorate was 
from 1832 to 1839. In 1839, March 1, Rev. John 
C. Smith, D. D., then pastor of the Bridge Street 
Chnrch, Georgetown, D. C, was called to the pas- 
torate, in which he remained until his death, Jan- 
uary 23, 1878, and was succeeded by its present pas- 
tor, Rev. Joseph T. Kelly. 

* I must now notice the formation of the Presby- 
tery of the District of Columbia, which was, in 
1823, May 11, in Alexandria, at the request of the 
Presbytery of Baltimore, and by order of the Synod 
of Philadelphia. The original members were Revs. 
Balch, Post, Brackenridge, Harrison, Baker, Mines, 
Campbell and Maffit, with licentiates Belt, Tustin 
and R. R. Gurley, together with the following 
churches ; Bridge Street, Georgetown ; First, Wash- 
ington City ; Bladensburg ; First, Alexandria ; 
Second, Washington City ; Cabin John and Be- 
b thesda, Md. 

The aggregate membership of the churches in 
this city was 330. 

In 1836 the General Assembly transferred this 
Presbytery to the Synod of Virginia. 

But just about this time, in 1837, a certain 
unpleasantness betrayed itself in the Presbyterian 
camp, which grew to large proportions, and finally 
culminated in an open rupture between the tribes 
of that ecclesiastical Israel. Ephraim, believing 
himself to be Divinely moved to defend the faith, 
vexed Judah ; and Judah, believing himself also to 
be Divinely moved to defend the same precious 



Ill 



deposit, turned about and prodded Ephraim ; so 
that, as the result of the unpleasantness there was a 
very lively ecclesiastical scrimmage, which precip- 
itated a general engagement all along the line, from 
the bleak hills of New England to the orange groves 
of the Sunny South. I cannot go into particulars, 
pressed as I am for time, and must content myself 
with saying that the Presbyterian inheritance 
became divided. Ephraim, taking what he believed 
was his share, and, with brotherly magnanimity 
leaving what remained for Judah. There was no 
further trouble after this, only, to avoid occasion 
for a revival of the old or the creation of a new 
unpleasantness, both sides maintained for thirty- 
two years an armed neutrality. At the close of 
this eventful period both sides, by mutual impulse, 
of the Divine origin of which there can be no 
doubt, were drawn together, and, under circum- 
stances in which the finger of God was manifestly 
seen, they were happily reunited on terms satisfac- 
tory to both. What, therefore, God joined together 
let neither Sanballat, the Horonite, nor Tobiah, the 
Ammonite, seek to put asunder. 

There is only one colored Presbyterian church in 
this city, on Fifteenth Street, having its origin in 
the zealous labors of Elder David M. Wilson. This 
church grew out of a Sabbath School formed on 
Fourteenth street and H, and in 1842, May 14, 
was organized into a church, the first pastor being 
Rev. John F. Cook, father of the recent city col- 
lector of taxes, Mr. George Cook, Superintendent 



112 



of colored schools, and grandfather of Professor 
Cook, Howard University. 

The following is the succession of pastors : 

Rev. John F. Cook, 1841-1855; Rev. W. Catto, 1858-186 1 ; Rev. B. 
F. Tanner, 1861-1864 ; Rev. H. A. Garnett, 1864-1866 ; Rev. Zella 
Martin, 1868, 1870 ; Rev. George Van 'Deurs, 1874-1875 ; Rev. John 
Brown, 1875-1878 ; Rev. Francis J. Grimke, 1878-1885 ; Rev. J. R. 
Riley, 1887; Francis J. Grimke, D. D., 1887— 

In 1853, under the labors of Elder David M. Wil- 
son, encouraged by his pastor, Rev. John C. Smith, 
D. D., the Fifth, now Assembly's Church, was 
organized with a membership of 20, and under the 
care of Rev. Andrew G. Carothers. In 1863, Rev. 
Thaddeus B. McFalls became the pastor. He was 
followed by Rev. William Hart in 1868, he by Rev. 
Charles B. Boynton in 1870, who brought with him 
the disbanded members of the Central Congrega- 
tional Church. In June 1873, the present pastor, 
Rev. George O. Little, D. D., was elected pastor, 
and remains as such at the present time. 

Time admonishes me to content myself with little 
more than the bare mention of the names and dates 
of organization of the remaining churches, although 
I am in possession of many facts and incidents of 
interest connected with them. These churches are 
the following : 

Tha Sixth, organized with 32 members, January 
23, 1853, Rev. Mason Noble, D. D., being the first 
pastor. Dr. Noble was followed successively by 
Revs. Geo. H. Smyth, 1864 ; Frank H. Burdick, 
1882 ; Scott F. Hershey, Ph. D., 1887, and its pres- 
ent pastor, Rev. Daniel W. Skellinger, installed 
December 14, 1894. 



113 



The Seventh Street, now Westminster Church, 
organized June 14, 1853, under the care of Rev. 
John M. Henry, its first pastor. Mr. Henry was 
followed by Rev. Elisha B. Cleghorn in 1856. In 
1857, Rev. B. F. Bittinger, D. D., was installed, 
and in 1863 was released. William W. Campbell 
was installed in 1865, and in 1868 Rev. B. F. Bit- 
tinger, D. D., again became pastor, and continues 
as such to the present time. 

These two last-named churches enjoy the envi- 
able distinction of being located in that part of the 
city which, at one time, would have been described 
by an average pupil in our public schools as a nar- 
now strip of land entirely surrounded by water. 
The water has since disappeared, however ; the dry 
land has asserted its original supremacy, and now 
what once was known as " The Island" is, in 
modern phrase, called South Washington, the sec- 
tion of the city in which may be found the Wash- 
ington Monument, the Bureau of Engraving and 
Printing, the Agricultural Department, the Smith- 
sonian Institution, the National Museum, the Fish 
Commission, the Medical Museum, and last, though 
not least, the Sixth and the Westminster Presby- 
terian Churches. 

It may be known to only a few persons that, 
about 1850, a Presbyterian church edifice was erec- 
ted on Eighth Street N". W., between H and I. 
Some persons connected with the F Street Church 
were disappointed when, at an election of a co-pas- 
tor in 1845, the Rev. Ninian Bannatyne was chosen 



114 



instead of Rev. Septimus Tustin, D. D., and who 
went out and held separate religious services. Dr. 
Tustin was followed by William McCalla, D. D., 
and he, by Rev. Ralph R. Gurley. Whether a for- 
mal organization was effected I cannot learn, even 
after diligent inquiry and search. But there can 
be no doubt of the fact that through the liberality, 
principally, of Mr. Charles Coltman, a commodious 
brick edifice was erected ; and of him it may be 
said, as was mentioned of the centurion in the 
Gospel, he loved our church and built what literally 
became a synagogue ; and, as such, is now used by 
the descendants of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. 

On January 3, 1854, the Western Church was 
organized with 24 members, and if T record the fact 
that this church also was largely indebted to the 
labors of that consecrated elder, David M. Wilson, 
you must not hold me responsible, unless it be for 
exhibiting his zeal and untiring activity as worthy 
the emulation of his surviving brethren in the 
eldership.* 

The succession of pastors is the following : 

Rev. T. N. Haskell, 1854-1858 ; Rev. J. R. Bartlett, 1859-1861 ; 
Rev- John N. Coombs, 1862-1874 ; David Wills, D. D., 1875-1878 ; 
Rev. Theodore S. Wynkoop, 1878-1893 ; Rev. H. Wilbur Eunis, 
1894—. 

In chronological order I mention the organization 
of the Presbytery of Potomac, in 1858, by order 

*The building of this church was commenced by Rev. Dr. John 
C. Smith, but he having been injured by a railroad accident in 
Virginia, the work was completed by Rev. Dr. Sunderland in the 
year 1857, when there was great financial distress in this country, 
and to pay the last $500 to free the church from all debt he took 
boarders into his own family. 



115 

of the Synod of Baltimore. As constituted, it 
embraced the following members, viz : Revs. Graf, 
Gurley, Tustin, J. E. Nourse, Motzer, Bocock, Bit- 
tinger and Walton, with the churches of F Street, 
Second, Seventh, Washington City ; Bridge Street, 
Georgetown ; Annapolis, Neelsville, Darnestown, 
Bladensburg and West River, Maryland. Of the 
original members of this Presbytery only one is 
now living, namely, the author of this paper. 

The Metropolitan Church grew out of the earnest 
longings of a few consecrated Presbyterians, living 
on Capitol Hill, in 1864, for a church holding the 
faith of their fathers. At first they met for wor- 
ship in a small school house on First street S. E. 
The congregation rapidly increased in numbers, 
compelling them to seek accommodations in a large 
building formerly used as a market house, corner of 
A and Third Streets, the site now occupied by St. 
Mark's P. E. Church. On the 11th of April, 1864, 
the church was organized, with 34 members, as the 
Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, and at the same 
time, Rev. John Chester, D. D., was installed pas- 
tor. Subsequently, the church occupied a large 
room in the south wing of the Capitol, where, for the 
first and only time in that building, the sacraments 
of Baptism and the Lord's Supper were adminis- 
tered. In 1865, February 12, the congregation 
entered into a chapel which had been erected on 
the lot upon which its present house of worship 
stands. This chapel was constructed in Burling- 
ton, N. J., and brought here and put together. 



116 



serving the church as a place of worship seven 
years. When the foundation of the present edifice 
had been laid, in 1868, a proposition was made for 
the consolidation with this church of the property 
on E street N. W., originally intended as the site 
of a church representative of our denomination in 
the National Metropolis, but which was never used 
for that purpose. The condition of consolidation, 
as prescribed by the Synod of Baltimore, was that 
the name " Capitol Hill" be changed to "Metro- 
politan," which title it bears at the present time. 
Dr. Chester continued as pastor until February 26, 
1894, and in October of the same year he was suc- 
ceeded by its present pastor, Rev. George N. Luc- 
cock, D. 1). 

In the year following, December 4, 1865, the 
North Church was organized with 23 members, 
under the oversight of Rev. Louis R. Fox, who was 
installed pastor December 31, of the same year. 
This church was the outgrowth of missionary labors 
of members of the New York Avenue Church, hold- 
ing religious services in a school house, Tenth and 
M streets, and for a time was under the fostering 
care of the New York Avenue Church. 

Mr. Fox remained as pastor until 1871, and in 
1872 was succeeded by Rev. James G. Mason. 

The present pastor, Charles B. Ramsdell, D. D., 
was installed December 3, 1875. The church edifice 
was dedicated December 3, 1865, and was enlarged 
in 1878. 



117 



In 1870, under promising auspices, the two Pres- 
byteries, District of Columbia and Potomac, were 
united by order of the Synod of Baltimore, acting 
under authority of the reunited General Assembly. 
This union was effected in the Bridge Street Church, 
Georgetown, the first moderator elected being Rev. 
John C. Smith, D. D., and the first stated clerk, 
Rev. Thaddeus B. McFalls. The name adopted and 
by which it is know is, " The Presbytery of Wash- 
ington City." The following ministers were pres- 
ent, viz : Revs. Tustin, Smith, Simpson, McLain, 
Van Doren, Henderson, Sunderland, Bittinger, 
Murphy, Coombs, J. E. Nourse, McFalls, Chester, 
Moffat, French, Hart, Fox, Mitchell. The follow- 
ing churches were represented : Bladensburg (now 
Hyattsville), Bridge Street (now West Street), New 
York Avenue, First, Fourth, Fifteenth Street, Sixth, 
Seventh (now Westminister), ster), Metroplitan, and 
North, Washington City ; First, Prince William, 
Manassas, Clifton, Virginia; Neelsville and Darnes- 
town, Maryland, and the churches among the freed- 
men in Virginia. As thus constituted, the Presby- 
tery consisted of 18 ministers, and had under its care 
17 churches, with 2,889 communicants. Now it 
embraces 43 ministers, 32 churches, with 7,132 
communicants. The churches have a seating capac- 
ity of 14,900 persons, and a valuation of $960,000. 

As significant of change, I state that of the min- 
isters answering to the roll call in 1870, only four 
now remain to respond— Revs. Sunderland, Bittin- 
ger, Chester, and French ; while of the others, Rev. 
S. S. Mitchell, D. D., is the sole survivor. 



118 



I also state in this connection that, of the minis- 
ters who were pastors of the churches in this city 
at the time of the organization of the Presbytery of 
Potomac, of all denominations, the only survivors 
are Byron Sunderland, D. D., of the First Church ; 
Benjamin F. Bittinger, D. D., of the Westminster 
Church; John G. Butler, D. D., of the Lutheran 
Memorial Church, and Christian C. Meador, D. D., 
of the Fifth Baptist Church. 

In 1871, certain members of the Fourth Church, 
residing in East Washington, united in the pur- 
pose of opening a Sabbath School, with a view of 
establishing a church. Mr. Moses Kelly, then an 
elder of the Fourth Church, donated several lots 
on Eighth street N. E., on which, in 1872, a frame 
chapel was erected. Rev. Joseph T. Kelly, then a 
student in Princeton Theological Seminary, was 
engaged as a stated supply. Mr. Kelly was sue 
ceeded by Rev. George B. Patch, D. D., under 
whose ministrations an organization was effected 
in May 9, 1875 ; subsequently Rev. S. S. Wallen 
became pastor in 1881, followed, in 1884, by Rev. 
Eugene Peck, who was killed on the railroad near 
the church in 1888, March 15. In 1890, Eev. Max- 
well N. Cornelius, D. D., was installed, who, at his 
death in 1893, March 31, was succeeded by its pres- 
ent pastor, Rev. Thomas C. Easton, D. D., installed 
January 24, 1894. During the latter years of Dr. 
Cornelius' ministry the question of building a new 
and more commodious church edifice was enter- 
tained, and which was solved by the erection of its 



119 



present handsome structure on the corner of Sixth 
street and Maryland avenue N. E. This new 
church, especially in the preliminaries of its con- 
struction, is largely indebted to the wise counsels 
of Dr. Cornelius, but he died without its sight. 

Unity Church grew out of the zealous labors of 
Rev. Gfeorge B. Patch, D. D., seconded by no less 
zealous Presbyterians residing in the northwest 
part of our city. At first religious services were 
held in Clabaugh Hall, Fourteenth street, and an 
organization effected March 15, 1882. In 1884 a 
commodious brick chapel was erected on the corner 
of Fourteenth and K streets, which, in October, 
1892, was demolished to make room for the hand- 
some edifice which now adorns the site, and cost- 
ing $70,000, the gift of a generous Christian lady, 
Mrs. Edward Temple ; and in memory of her hus- 
band and father, its name was changed from "Unity" 
to " The Gfunton Temple Memorial Church." This 
new building was dedicated November 5, 1893. 
Dr. Patch continues to be the pastor. 

Should any Presbyterian who loves his or her 
church and city be desirous of emulating the noble 
example of Mrs. Temple, and is in doubt as to an 
eligible location, I would suggest Columbia or 
Washington Heights, accompanying the suggestion 
will the assurance that the investment will pay 
large dividends which shall never lapse nor cease. 

Such was the rapid growth of our city, especially 
in the northwest, that at several times between 
1871 and 1879 Presbytery discussed the question of 



120 



planting a church of our order in that section, and 
in 1879 appointed a committee for its consideration. 
Even in 1872 the stated clerk, Rev. T. B. McFalls, 
seriously thought of initiating preaching services, 
and made tentative overtures for the purchase of a 
lot. Nothing effective was done, however, until 
1883, when, in consultation, certain gentlemen, 
principally connected with the New York Avenue 
Church, agreed to undertake the work. These 
gentlemen, with commendable zeal and liberality, 
purchased a site, corner of N and Eighteenth 
streets N. W., upon which a chapel was erected, 
which was opened for worship October 13, 1885, 
and in which the Church of the Covenant was or- 
ganized with fifty-three members. Subsequently, 
the present edifice was erected, which was first 
opened for divine worship February 24, 1889. In 
1886 Rev. Teunis S. Hamlin, D. D., was installed 
pastor, and continues as such to the present time. 
Did it not savor a little of irreverence to associate 
a christian church with heathen fable, I would say 
something about Minerva springing forth in full 
armor from the head of Jupiter. But I will con- 
tent myself with saying that this church was not 
nourished by the ordinary pabulum furnished by 
a Sabbath School, nor did it ever wear the swad- 
dling bands of a mission outpost, but came into 
being fall-fledged, and from the beginning, equipped 
for service, took an honorable place among its sis- 
ter churches of the Presbytery. There is con- 
nected with this church the Peck Memorial Chapel, 



121 



corner of M and Twenty-eighth streets N. W., the 
minister in charge being Rev. Charles Alvin Smith. 

A few words now of another Presbyterian church, 
the Central, under the pastoral care of Rev. A. W. 
Pitzer, D. D., whom we all have learned to honor 
and love ever since we discovered that, unlike the 
ancient Greeks who brought equivocal gifts to 
Troy, he brought with him only messages of peace 
and good will to this city. This church was or- 
ganized with twenty-nine members May 31, 1868. 
In speaking of the pastors of the other churches I 
did not think it necessary to say anything of their 
orthodoxy, for the simple reason that, being to the 
manner born, it might be assumed of all of them, 
from the first to the last born into the Presbytery. 
The fact, however, of this church and its pastor 
receiving honorable mention in this historical sketch 
may be accepted as a full and sufficient guarantee 
that both pastor and people are sound in the faith ; 
while of the pastor's church work some have said, 
as a certain workman affirmed of his work, it is not 
only plumb, but more than plumb. 

I need not inform you that Dr. Pitzer, when he 
came here shortly after that memorable interview 
in Appomattox, Virginia, between Gen. Grant and 
Gen. .Lee, was, as he is now, in connection with 
the Southern Assembly, which, as you know, be- 
came so distended with righteous indignation 
against the Northern Assembly for its violation of 
the 4th section of the 31st chapter of the Confes- 
sion of Faith, forbidding Synods and Councils to 



122 



intermeddle with civil affairs, that it could not any 
longer contain itself, and for relief formed an 
Assembly of its own. But, mirabile clictu, through 
a strange lapse of memory, it was not long before 
it did precisely the same thing, and the separation, 
as if by a left-handed consistency, continues to the 
present day, the one being known as the ' ' Presby- 
terian Church in the United States of America," 
and the other the " Presbyterian Church in the 
United States.'' 

True, indeed, of recent years there has been on 
the part of some, at least, a yearning for the res- 
toration of ante helium happy relations with the 
Northern Assembly, which, true to its time-hon- 
ored hospitality, keeps ready a fatted calf, to be 
killed immediately both Assemblies recover their 
common, or, better still, their christian sense ; and 
when, as brethren holding the same faith and gov- 
erned by the same polity, they shall be one in heart, 
as they are now one in name. 

So far, however, the Southern Assembly, as such, 
does not seem to hanker very much after the afore- 
mentioned fatted calf — neither to give much encour- 
agement to the annual proposals of its Northern 
suitor for closer relations. Willing, indeed, to 
accept its olive branches, but not ready to order 
any orange blossoms for itself , and saying, in effect, 
after the manner of a coy maiden under similar cir- 
cumstances, " I feel honored by your proposals and 
shall never cease to cherish for you the most 
friendly feelings, but — I can never be more to you 
than a sister — Church." 



123 



Prior to 1872 the New York Avenue Church con- 
ducted a mission on Florida Avenue, near Seventh 
Street N. W., but in this year a church was organ- 
ized with seven members, under the name and title 
of " The Gurley Church," and under the care of 
Rev. William H. Logan. In 1876, however, at the 
request of its elders, the church was dissolved and 
a large Sabbath School continued under supervision 
of the Session of New York Avenue Church. In 
1889 a church was organized under the name and 
title of the " Gurley Memorial Church," under 
the pastoral care of Rev. William S. Miller, who 
was succeeded by its present pastor, Rev. J. R. 
Verbrycke. 

Through the efforts principally of the family of 
Mr. Alexander Garden, an elder of the Westminster 
Church, aided by others, a church was organized in 
1892, in Anacostia, D. C, consisting of 18 members. 
Rev. Joseph B. North, the present pastor, was 
installed March 20, 1894. 

In 1891 the organization of a church at Takoma 
Park, D. C, was brought to the notice of the Pres- 
bytery, and the Commiitee on Surburban Churches 
was directed to make overtures to the Directors of 
u Union Chapel " for its control as a place of Pres- 
byterian worship. In 1893 the transfer was made 
and an organization effected, consisting of 35 mem- 
bers. The present and only pastor of the church 
is Rev. John Van Ness, having been installed July 
3, 1895. 

But I must hasten to a conclusion, not, however, 
without calling upon you to unite with me in doing 



124 



honor to our noble lineage of Presbyterian minis- 
ters and laymen who, at great cost of labor and 
sacrifice, laid the foundations of our Church in 
this city and District, and bequeathed to us the 
rich inheritance of which we are the favored pos- 
sessors. Let this inheritance be our pride and joy ; 
let us guard it with ceaseless vigilance ; let us mag- 
nify it as the choicest gift of heaven ; and, glory- 
ing in its historic prestige, its traditional achieve- 
ments, and its vast resources of honor and useful- 
ness, transmit it to our children with the solemn 
charge to suffer no one to rob them of its posses- 
sion, nor even to challenge their title deeds to its 
peaceable enjoyment. 

This is our duty, but no less our privilege, so 
that to use the words of another, varied and 
adapted to the present occasion: "If, as Pres- 
byterians, we would rise to the level of our respon- 
sibility, we must, while showing the widest charity 
towards all other denominations, devote the great 
resources of our own Church, both of men and 
means, in the dissemination of the truths which it 
maintains, for the largest possible development of 
its own institutions. Loyalty to the Presbyterian 
system involves loyalty to its wide-spread agencies ; 
demands a persistent, resolute, aggressive move- 
ment for the meeting in full, along denominational 
lines, of denominational responsibilities." 

On this subject the reasoning of many persons is 
specious and misleading. For however sincerely 
we may deprecate the division of Christians into 



125 



many sects, or deplore the evils of sectarianism as 
fostering an unreasonable and unscriptural exclu- 
siveness, there is little probability that denomina- 
tionalism— meaning thereby an intelligent choice 
of and love for a particular form of faith, worship 
and government — shall disappear before the Mil- 
lennium, when, as we hope and believe, there will 
be only one flock, as now there is only one Shep- 
herd. Meanwhile, the recent abortive efforts made 
by the Presbyterian and other churches for the 
establishment of Christian unity strengthens the 
conviction that it will continue to be a fixed factor 
in the status of Christendom. From conviction or 
choice, or both, we all must find a place in one or 
another of the Christian denominations, so that it 
may be accepted as almost a truism that he is 
the best Christian, the truest to Christ, who, with 
charity towards others, is most loyal to the 
church of which he is a member, and for the 
preservation and maintenance of all the interests 
of which he has voluntarily, before God and man, 
brought himself under the most solemn obliga- 
tions.* 

*L,et it not be supposed that, in the expression of my views on 
Christian unity, I am indifferent to either its importance or its 
desirability. I rather magnify both. A unity, however, which 
looks for its realization not in the dead level of a monotonous uni- 
formity ,^but in that freedom of variety which is the characteristic 
of all life, especially of the " life that is hid with Christ in God. " 
Such variations of individual opinion, feeling and action, more- 
over, instead of breaking the bond which binds Christians, first to 
Christ, then to one another, is the best preservative of it, and find 
their counterparts in the several members of the human body, 
which, although fulfilling various offices, are actuated by one soul — 
perfect in one. Diversity in unity — such is the order of spiritual 



126 



And is it not, moreover, a fact, that a man who, 
under special pleading of superior liberality, is 
indifferent to the welfare, and negligent of the 
claims, of his own church, is of little, if any, prac- 
tical benefit to any other church — and who will do 
well to remember the words of the inspired Apos- 
tle — " If any provide not for his own, and specially 
for those of his own house, he hath denied the 
faith, and is worse than an infidel ? " 

Then, with the kindest feelings for all who love 
the Lord Jesus in sincerity, and striving with them 
to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of 
peace, let us, with fresh courage, labor for the 
prosperity and enlargement of our beloved church ; 
stand in our lot, hold fast to our trust, and acquit 
ourselves of every responsibility which the prov- 
idence of God has imposed upon us. Let us say of 
it as David said of the church represented in Jeru- 
salem : " Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity 
within thy palaces. For my brethren and compan- 
ions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. 
Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will 
seek thy good." Then, indeed, loyal to itself, and 
to its great King, and fully equipped for every good 
word and work, it shall shine forth as the morn- 
ing, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and to all 
wrong-doing, terrible as an army with banners. 

life, leading us to the conclusion that Christians may be " distinct 
as the billows, yet one as the sea." 

Our aim, therefore, should be not for a universal visible Church 
under one organization, but, as in the New Testament, for many 
churches of distinct organizations, and bound together by affinity 
'and co-operation, all holding a common faith and professing sub- 
jection to a common Head, our Lord Jesus Christ. A union of 
spirit rather than of form. 



Address by the — 

HON. JOHN W. FOSTER. 



In the interesting series of meetings being held 
to celebrate the establishment of Presbyterianism 
in the District of Columbia and the centennial of 
the First Church of this capital, I, as president of 
the organization, have been designated to represent 
the Presbyterian Alliance of this city. I am sure 
I speak the unanimous sentiment of the Alliance, 
which embraces all the churches of our denomina- 
tion of this city, when I tender to the mother 
church the hearty congratulations of all her off- 
spring, express our pride in her history, and wish 
for her second centennial existence great pros- 
perity and usefulness. 

I regard this occasion as having marked signifi- 
cance and importance. Why was it that when the 
fathers of the Republic were making ready this 
locality to be the future seat of Government of the 
nation, in the very first days of preparation a body 
of earnest Christian men felt it desirable and neces- 
sary to establish here a Presbyterian Church ? And 
why is it that at the end of a century of experi- 
ence and labor, the offspring of that Church greatly 
multiplied, are banded together in an Alliance to 
continue with renewed zeal the work of Presbyter- 



128 



ian extension in the capital city of the nation ? I 
can best answer these questions by recalling some 
well-known history. 

Presbyterianism is rooted and grounded in Cal- 
vinism. From the time the young French refugee 
began to promulgate his theology in Geneva, to 
this day Calvinism has wrought for freedom, for 
the rights of man and stoutly battled against thrones 
and tyranny. De Tocqueville calls it " a democra- 
tic and republican religion." Buckle says the 
Calvinistic doctrines 6 'have always been connected 
with a democratic spirit." Greene, in his history 
of the English People, points to the chief element 
in the greatness of that people and of modern 
Europe in these words : "It is in Calvinism that 
the modern world takes its roots ; for it was Cal- 
vinism that first revealed the worth and dignity of 
man." 

Its influence upon France is one of the most inter- 
esting but saddest pages in history. The pupils of 
Calvin went everywhere over that land preaching 
his doctrine and calling the people to a more rigid 
and exemplary life. In a very few years his 
adherents numbered near half the population, but 
the spirit of liberty thereby engendered inaugu- 
rated a civil war which was stifled in the St. Bar- 
tholomew massacre and an unequal contest was 
carried on for more than a century till by the revo- 
lution of the Edict of Nantez the Hugenots were 
scattered in the Netherland, in England and the 
American Colonies where there free principles 
found more congenial climes. 



129 



Early Calvinism invaded Holland and at once 
nnder the lead of its great hero, William the Silent, 
began that war against Spanish tyranny which 
gave to the Dutch Republic a century of unequalled 
renown. 

John Kox, Calvin's most distinguished pupil, 
carried his doctrines and spirit across the channel 
into Scotland, where, after a heroic struggle with 
royalty and immorality, they became so ingrained 
in the character of its inhabitants that ever since 
they have been the crowning glory of its people. 

From Scotland Calvinism spread into England 
and soon stirred up a struggle with tyranny which 
overturned the throne. The untimely death of the 
great Puritan champion, Cromwell, gave a respite 
to royal prerogative and autocratic rule in the con- 
test with representative government, and again it 
was the power of Calvinism, as represented in Wil- 
liam of Orange, that expelled forever the House of 
the Stuarts and established English liberty on a 
sure foundation. The battle of the Boyne signifies 
much more than the local triumph of the Presby- 
terian over the Catholic Church in Ireland. It 
established forever for the Anglo-Saxon race the 
world over free government and representative 
institutions. 

I need not recall to this audience the great influ- 
ence of the Puritans, the Dutch, the Scotch-Irish, 
the Huguenots — all Calvinists — upon the American 
colonies and the revolutionary struggle. 

Listen to the judgment of the impartial histo- 
rian as to these political events so briefly noticed. 



130 



Says Motley: " To the Calvinists, more than 
to any other class of men, the political liberties 
of Holland, England and America are due." 
Hume, the atheist, says: "It was to the Puri- 
tans that the English owe the whole freedom of 
their constitution." Of the Scotch clergy, Buckle 
testifies: "To these men England and Scotland 
owe a debt they can never pay." Taine, the French 
writer, says : "The Calvinists are the true heroes 
of England ; they founded Scotland ; they founded 
the United States." Froud writes : "It was Cal- 
vinism which overthrew spiritual wickedness and 
hurled kings from their thrones, and purged Eng- 
land and Scotland * * * from lies and charla- 
tanry." Says Ranke, the German : " John Calvin 
was virtually the founder of America." Choate 
traced to the influence of Calvinism " the great civil 
war in England, and * * * the independence of 
America." Our great historian, Bancroft, says : 
" He that will not honor the memory and respect 
the influence of Calvin, knows but little of the ori- 
gin of American Independence." 

When the agitation was initiated which resulted 
in the American Revolution, the Presbyterian 
Church was beginning to strike its roots deep in 
the social soil of the colonies and its influence was 
everywhere on the side of rebellion. The Whig 
Club of New York formed in 1752, to whose action 
Bancroft ascribes the inception of the Continental 
Congress, was so largely composed of Presbyterians 
that it was dubbed by the loyalists "the Presby- 



131 



terian Junta." The Synod of the Presbyterian 
Church of Philadelphia was the first religious body 
to declare openly for a separation from England 
and counsel and encourage the people to take up 
arms. The Rector of Trinity Church, New York, 
reported that all the clergy of the Church of Eng- 
land in New England, New York and New Jersey 
were on the side of the Crown, but, he adds: " I 
do not know of one of the Presbyterian clergy, nor 
have I been able, after strict inquiry, to hear of 
any, who did not, by preaching and every effort in 
their power, promote all the measures of Congress, 
however extravagant." Bancroft says : " The first 
voice raised in America to dissolve all connection 
with Great Britain came, not from the Puritans of 
New England, nor the Dutch of New York, nor the 
planters of Virginia, but from the Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterians." Probably the most noted docu- 
ment of the Revolution next to the Declaration of 
Independence was the Mecklenberg Declaration, 
issued more than a year before the former, and 
which breathes the same spirit and in some of its 
parts, almost its exact language. It was the work 
of the Scotch-Irish of North Carolina in an assem- 
bly composed of twenty-seven staunch Calvinists, 
of whom one-third were Presbyterian elders. The 
only clerical member of the Continental Congress 
and signer of the Declaration of Independence was 
a Presbyterian — Dr. J ohn Witherspoon — a lineal 
descendant of John Knox and president of Prince- 
ton College. In the act of signing that immortal 



132 



document, when some of the members seemed to 
hesitate, he made this appeal: " Of property, I 
have some ; of reputation, more. That reputa- 
tion is staked, that property is pledged, on the 
issue of this contest. And, although these gray 
hairs must soon descend into the sepulchre, I 
would infinitely rather they should descend thither 
by the hand of the public -executioner than desert 
at this crisis the sacred cause of my country." 

Of such stun* was the contingent which the Pres- 
byterian Church furnished to gain our indepen- 
dence and found a nation. But the influence of 
Calvinism upon public affairs did not end with the 
triumph of the Revolution. The genius of the 
Genevan divine did not content itself with dissem- 
inating a religion which in its spirit assailed mon- 
archy and developed democracy ; but it framed for 
the government of the church a republican or rep- 
resentative system. And this system, more than 
any other form of government, was taken as the 
model for the Constitution of the United States. 
When the Constitutional Convention assembled in 
Philadelphia, Princeton College furnished more 
than double the number of delegates from any 
other college and at their head was James Madison, 
the special protege of President Witherspoon. 
His compeer in that assembly, Alexander Hamil- 
ton, was the offspring of Scotch and Huguenot 
parents ; and his wife tells us that during the con- 
vention he always kept on his study table the 
4 'Form of Government" of the Presbyterian Church. 



133 



In this hasty review of familiar history, I trust 
I have answered the question propounded at the 
beginning of my remarks, why Presbyterianism 
was established in this city even in advance of the 
coming of the Federal Government ; why at the 
end of a century it shows great growth and vitality ; 
and why with renewed zeal and united energy it is 
entering upon even more rapid growth and pros- 
perity. It is natural and eminently proper that a 
faith, which in all its history has stood for the 
rights of man and in its spirit is essentially demo- 
cratic, should be strongly entrenched in the greatest 
of all republics, and that a Church which has done 
so much to achieve the independence of the nation 
and frame its government, should find in its capital 
a congenial home and a great field of usefulness. 
And I think I have the authority of history to 
warrant the declaration that so long as the Church 
of John Calvin, of John Knox and John Wither- 
spoon remains strongly rooted in this Capital and 
throughout the country, there need be no fear for 
democratic principles and republican government. 

I venture to add one thought more. There 
appears to be abroad in the world a spirit falsely 
styled liberalism, which is especially hostile to 
what are termed the antiquated doctrines of Calvin 
That spirit would question the sovereignty of God 
in relation to the conduct of His earthly creatures; 
it would obscure His justice with an exaggerated 
theory of His love ; it would ignore the existence 
of a devil and utterly deny future punishment ; it 



134 



Would take away from man the incentive of reward 
in the other world for a blameless and holy life. 
Renan scoffingly says: "Paul begat Augustine 
and Augustine begat Calvin." We gladly accept 
the parentage. The Pauline exposition of the Gos- 
pel of Christ is the product of the greatest intellect, 
the largest heart and the bravest and most tireless 
worker among the servants of the Great Master. It 
has stood the assault of ages ; it has brought hope 
and life to the downcast and oppressed the world 
over ; it is as true and vital to-day as in the first 
century of its existence. In the presence of this 
spirit of liberalism, the Presbyterian Church does 
not falter in its devotion to the old faith. It is as 
loyal to Calvinism as was the Covenanter of Scot- 
land or the Puritan of England two and three cen- 
turies ago. With a glorious history behind it, with 
a ripened harvest of golden opportunity before it, 
and with the blue banner of Calvinism always un- 
furled, it girds up its loins for a new century of 
labor in this capital city of the nation. 

And in this work it challenges a comparison with 
the disciples of liberalism, in all that makes for 
the good of the human race. It believes with Car- 
lyle that " a man who will do faithfully needs to 
believe firmly;" but steadfastness in the faith 
does not make its adherents intolerant or exclu- 
sive. In this city the Presbyterian Church is 
among the foremost in its co-operation with other 
churches in the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion, in the Sunday School Union, the Christian 



135 



Endeavor, the Central Union Mission, and in all 
movements for evangelization. Its members will 
be found as numerously represented as any sect or 
school on the hospital boards, the charity organiza- 
tions, the scientific and philosophic societies and 
bodies of advanced thought and research. It labors 
with the Catholics for Sabbath observance and 
temperance reform ; with the Jews and Gentiles, 
the agnostics and infidels in all movements for a 
higher standard of morality ; with men of all ranks, 
color and conditions for good government and civic 
reform. 

Hence it is that when we come together as Pres- 
byterians to rejoice with our mother Church in a 
century of growth and labor, and recall what our 
Church has accomplished and what it has stood for 
in the past, like our great exemplar, when after a 
long life of heroic service he was about to enter 
upon his work in the capital of the Roman Empire, 
we " thank God and take courage." 




ADDRESS OF— 



"Rev. J. G. BUTLE-R, 

. AT THE . 

Presbyterian Centennial, 

^t'rst ^Presbyterian Church. li/ash en gton, ID. C. 



At this late hour, Mr. President and Christian 
friends, it would be ungracious in me to tax the 
patience of this interested audience to the length 
of time assigned me in the program. The paper of 
our distinguished friend and brother, Mr. Foster, 
has interested us greatly, whilst that of my young 
brother, Dr. Bittinger, so exhaustive and sugges- 
tive, floods my memory with reminiscences not 
easily restrained. The Doctor has a wholesome 
dread of water, and is evidently in no mood to 
question the validity of his own, nor our predes- 
tined ordination to the gospel ministry, striking 
hands with all the rest of us whom God has called, 
setting His seal by giving Apostolic success to our 
work. The question of Apostolic succession does 
not disturb us. After awhile, may we not hope, that 
all whom God has ordained may grow to the alti- 
tude of Christian life, which excludes from the 
pulpit none called of Heaven to the work, nor from 



137 



the table of our common Lord any whom He 
accepts. That is the Scriptural, Catholic, Fra- 
ternal position of a vast majority of the churches 
which I have the honor to represent in your 
interesting centennial program. This is the day of 
your family reunion, and it is by your Christian 
courtesy that my voice is heard. 

You honor your elder brother in greetings from 
the family of churches, not because he is a Centenna- 
rian, but because, with your esteemed and beloved 
pastor, he has stood for almost a half century, a 
fellow helper and builder in our great capital city. 
Coming an inexperienced youth in 1849 from the 
Theological school, welcomed by none more cordi- 
ally than by my Presbyterian brethren, there has 
never been a ripple to disturb the harmony and peace 
and love, which have followed us to the present, as 
laborers together with God. The great success 
that has attended the work of the Presbyterian 
Church, and as portrayed in the interesting paper 
of Dr. Bittinger, does not excite our envy. It but 
stirs us to emulate your activity on all lines of 
Christian work, and inspires our gratitude to God 
Whose servants we all are, and Who alone gives 
the increase to our sowing % 

Whilst you rightly magnify Calvin and Knox, in 
whom we also rejoice, we do not forget that but for 
our Luther — the world's Luther ! — you had not had 
this noble record, as followers of the French and 
Scotch Reformers. It is the immortal protest of Lu- 
ther at Worms, still ringing down the ages, that gave 



138 



birth to our common Protestantism, making it yet 
the world's only hope of deliverance from all au- 
thority, save the authority of God's Word, the rev- 
elation of Himself through the Christ, in Whom and 
for Whom we stand shoulder to shoulder, as we go 
forth conquering the world, not to Luther nor Cal- 
vin, but to Christ, Whose servants they and we 
alike, are. 

Standing in this city through all these years, it 
has been my joy to number among my friends the 
long line of faithful pastors and elders, to whom 
allusion has been so appropriately made to-night. 
The younger Dr. Balch I knew well, whilst the then 
venerable Dr. Laurie, of the old F Street Church, 
was one of the first to welcome me to his love and 
to his pulpit. The Drs. Ralph R. and P. D. Gur- 
ley — the great P. D., as we familiarly and lovingly 
called him — with Drs. Eckhart and D. X. Junkin, 
Mason Noble, the aroma of whose sweet life will 
never leave this city ; John C. Smith, the tact- 
ful, faithful, model pastor, with other intervening 
names down to the founder and long faithful pastor 
of your Metropolitan Church, Dr. John Chester; 
and Dr. Bartlett, who recently retired from our 
city, together w^ith the present corps of faithful 
and true and able men of whom my beloved brother, 
Dr. Sunderland, with whom I have stood through 
fair and through stormy weather, is now the senior, 
and is yet the beloved pastor of this First Pres- 
byterian Church. He and I have seen the rising 
and the falling again of many in pulpit and in 



139 



public life, during the almost half century to whose 
end we may both hope to abide. The service of 
the people, whether in the pulpit or in the high 
places of the nation, tries men and shows of what 
sort we are. 

Of the eldership of your churches, from the 
days of the senior Nourse through the long line, to 
the excellent David M. Wilson, to whom the meet- 
ings were always "good" if but himself and one 
other were there, because he said, ' 'The Lord was 
there," down to my friends, Wight and Ballantyne, 
now in this audience, honored of all who know them, 
it has been my privilege to be with many of them 
in the most fraternal relations. 

The period covered by the venerable pastor of 
this First Church has been the most eventful in 
our nation's history, since Bunker Hill and 
Yorktown. It was in this church that we met 
daily for united prayer in the years preceding the 
War of the Rebellion, and for which the nation, 
North and South, was in some measure prepared 
by the wonderful revival wave that swept over our 
country. Soon the baptism of fire and blood 
came, by which human slavery was blotted out. 
God save us evermore from fratricidal war ! The 
memories of these precious days and months of 
prayer are vividly before me tonight. I am quite 
sure that no pang troubles the breast of your pas- 
tor as he reviews the history running from '61 to 
Appomatox, and which makes the First Presby- 
terian Church historic, by reason of its loyalty to 



140 

freedom and the Flag. Today we together rejoice 
in a reunited country — all free, and occupying the 
first place among the Powers, because first loyal to 
Christ, the Unseen Leader. Amid, the ambitions 
and strifes among the nations, we shall continue 
free and united until " the Church without a bishop 
and the State without a king " shall have come into 
all their fulness and power, with Christ only ex- 
alted as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Dr. 
Arnold's definition of the Christ is the best I know, 
— " The society for making men like Christ, earth 
like Heaven, and the kingdoms of the world, the 
kingdom of Christ." I congratulate you, Mr. Pres- 
ident, because the Presbyterian Church is measuring 
up to this simple, sensible and Scriptural defini- 
tion of the Church which Christ loves and for 
which he gave Himself. Shall we not give our- 
selves % 

We cherish no hope of any organic Church union 
which obliterates the denominations. That the 
number of denominations, with their friction and 
wastes, should be reduced, there is no question. But 
these great historic churches growing out of tem- 
perament and taste, education and environment 
sustain the relation to the one Holy Christian 
Church which God's bow in the clouds sustains 
to the colorless light, separated by the prism rain 
drops. Nor could we dispense with the blue — 
always true in the Divinely-appointed symbol 
of promise and of peace. After awhile, in the New 
Jerusalem, the Capital of the eternal Home of 
Gfod's one family in Christ, these colors will be 



141 



resolved into the colorless light, for there is no 
darkness at all. John saw no Temple in that 
City. It needs none, for the Lord God, and the 
Lamb are the Temple of it. 

But, Mr. President, whilst I bring you greetings 
and enter with your joy upon the review of the 
first hundred years of Presbyterianism in this city, 
we do not forget that we stand upon the threshold of 
the twentieth century. We thank God for the 
unnumbered blessings of the past. What of the 
future ? How your own church and the whole 
Church of Christ have grown in numbers, in wealth, 
in resources, in agencies, in influence and in power ! 
What a mighty army the Christian Church of the 
United States is to-day ! What is our greatest 
need % Toward what should our labor and heart 
and prayer focalize, standing as we do among the 
tremendous responsibilities of this hour, as we look 
into the future % I feel that I voice your heart 
and the perplexed, troubled, earnest, sincere heart 
of the whole Church of Christ, when I answer my 
question and say, that the touch of Heaven, the 
baptism of fire, the quickening of God's Holy Spirit, 
is the need of all needs in all our Churches. It is 
not antagonism that now confronts God's army of 
conquest ; but is it not indifference, lethargy, luke- 
warmness, worldliness % The age is one of religious 
activity, second to none since the days of the 
Apostles. Yet the breath of God put into the 
multitude of disciples, would burn the wood and 
hay and stubble. that too often make us separate 
and even warring camps, and convert us into a well 
organized, well equipped and enthused army, soon 
carrying the blessed Gospel, with its saving power 
to the ends of the earth. All hail beloved, in the 
review of the past. God give us courage and faith 
for the days to come. 



Friday Evening, November 22, 1895. 

« Reeepuon, * 

7.30 to 10.30 P. M. 
• ♦ ^ ♦ • 

On Friday evening the general reception by the 
three pastors, to which all Presbyterians were 
invited, was held in the chnrch under the anspices 
of the Ladies' Beneficent Society. 

Very many of the ministers and members of the 
sister churches were present, and a most cordial 
interchange of greetings, congratulations and hand- 
shakings occupied the time in the lecture room 
below, while under the supervision of Mrs. Bessie 
Linden, Dr. Gr. F. Johnston and some of the most 
noted organists of the city discoursed delicious and 
stirring music to a delighted assembly in the audi- 
torium above. Later in the evening, it being Nov- 
ember 22d, the anniversary of the birthday of Dr. 
Sunderland, an affecting incident transpired. The 
people had proposed a surprise for him, which well 
nigh deprived him for the moment of the power of 
speech. 

The ladies seated him in a chair upon the dais 
and an introductory address was made by Dr. Tal- 
mage, and then Mr. Allen in a brief address, pre- 



143 



sented him in the name of the church with a purse 
containing seventy-six gold dollars — thus literally 
tipping with gold every year of his whole life. To 
this Dr. Sunderland responded, acknowledging the 
kindness which he had uniformly received from all 
his friends, both ministers and people, and express- 
ing an earnest wish that all prosperity might at- 
tend them. 

A large number of letters had been rceived from 
persons who had once been members of the congre- 
gation, but have been scattered far and wide through 
every section of the country. Some of the most 
interesting were read by Elder Theo. F. Sargeant, 
a member of the committee of arrangements. 

After this a plentiful collation was served by 
the ladies through Mr. Jarvis, the caterer, of 
which hundreds partook in the freedom of social 
converse and joyous congratulation. It was a re- 
union long to be cherished by all present and to 
mark a memorable event in the history of the 
church. 




The following tables are made up as fully as we have the means 
of knowing the names at the present date ; but they may be some- 
what defective. 

THE SUCCESSION OF PASTORS. 

There have been nine settled pastors and in the interval of these 
pastorates more than forty stated supplies for a longer or shorter 
time, and among them some of the most distinguished preachers 
of their generation. The following is the — 

REGISTER OF PASTORS. 



Name. 

John Brackenridge, D. D, 

Reuben Post, D. D .... 

William McCain, D. D 

Charles Rich 

William T. Sprole, D. D .. 

Elisha Ballantine 

B. Sunderland, D. p 

Adolos Allen 

T. De Witt Talmage, D. D 



When 
Installed. 



813, July 4. 

819 

836 

840 

843 

847 

853 



895. 



April 17. 
Oct. 23 .. 



Among the supplies and assistants we find the names of Rev. 
Messrs. John X. Clarke, McKnight, Mines, Bingham, Smith, 
Wood, R. C. Clarke, Moore, Gurley, Knapp, Patterson, Gallaher, 
S. H. Coxe, Samuel V. V. Holmes, and doubtless there were others 
of equal distinction, whose names have not been preserved. 

THE ELDERS. 

There have been thirty-one elders, to-wit : Messrs. John Coyle, 
Caldwell, Blagden, Stillman, Moore, Patterson, Young, Andrew 
Coyle, Kennedy, Shackford, Whitwell, John Coyle, Jr., D. Camp- 
bell, William H. Campbell, Leonidas Coyle, Miller, Speer, John- 
ston, Douglas, Carter, Du Bois, Sutphin, Patch, Frost, Smith, 
Wight, Knight, E. G. Church, Dalrymple, Lockhart and Sargent. 
Messrs. Wight, Knight, Dalrymple, Lockhart and Sargent consti- 
tute the present Session of the church. 



145 



REGISTER OF ELDERS. 



Name. 



George Blagden 

EHas B. Caldwell 

John Coyle 

Henry Hillman 

Thomas Patterson 

James Moore 

Ezekiel Young 

Andrew Coyle 

John Kennedy 

John Shackford 

John Coyle, Jr 

John G. Whitwell 

William H. Campbell.. 

Daniel Campbell 

Leonidas Coyle 

Isaac S. Miller 

Alexander Speer 

John Douglass 

Otis C. Wight 

Thomas J. Johnston.... 

Horace J. Frost 

Francis H. Smith 

Octavius Knight 

George B. Patch 

Richard W. Carter 

William A. Sutphin .... 

Nicholas Du Bois 

Frederick B. Dalrvmpl 

Edward G. Church 

Alfred Lockhart 

Theodore F. Sargent... 



Installed. 



First Board... 
First Board.... 
First Board.... 
1816, March 5. 
1819, Sept. 26.. 
1819, Sept. 26.. 
1822, Sept. 29.. 

1827, July 8 

1827, July 8 

1833 

1834 

1834 

1840 

1840 

1841 

1841 

i847 

1853, Nov. 13 .. 
1853, Nov. 13... 
1853, Nov. 13... 

1863, Jan. 4 

1863, Jan. 4.... 

1863, Jan. 4 

1868, June 2.... 
1873, Nov. 30... 
1873, Nov. 30... 
1873, Nov. 30... 

1881, Oct. 9 , 

1882, Jan. 28... 
1888, May 13... 
1888, May 13... 



Dismissed. 



Dismissed. 
Dismissed.. 



Dismissed. 



Demitted. . 
Dismissed. 



Dismissed. 



Dismissed.. 
Nov. 1, 1875., 



Oct. 4, 1883 . 



June 3, 1826... 
June 1, 1825... 
1831. 



-I853- 
'1855' 



.1837. 
.1838. 



May 21, 1881. 
Aug., 1857 .... 



Oct. , 1863 

1854. 



Dec, 1855.... 
Oct. 21, 1890. 



Feb. 6, ib84... 
Jan. 14, 1878.. 
Aug. 14, 1879. 



REGISTER OF DEACONS. 



Name. 



Richard W. Carter 

William J. Ellis 

Claudius B. Jewell 

Edward Champlin 

Iv. E. Ross 

J M. McNair 

Frederick B. Dairy mple . 

Edward G. Church 

John E. Carpenter, M. D 

George R. Milburn 

William B. Donaldson 

James G. Patterson 

Edwin D. Tracey 

Moses S. Gibson 

Samuel W. Curriden 

Thomas J. Johnston 

Hervey S. Knight 



Installed. 



1868, 
1869, 
1867. 
1868, 
1868, 
1868, 
1873, 
1873, 
1873, 
1873, 
1879, 
1881, 
188 1, 
1881, 
1888, 
1888, 
1888, 



Jan. 4. 
Jan. 4 



Jan. 21. 
Jan. 21. 
Jan. 21. 
Nov. 30. 
Nov. 30. 
Nov. 30. 
Nov. 30. 
Dec. 20. 
Oct. 9 . . 
Oct. 9 .. 
Oct. 9... 
May 13. 
May 13. 
May 13. 



Dismissed. 



Oct. 14. 1880 .... 
Elected Elder. 
Elected Elder. 



Jan. 15, 1876 . 



1893. 



Died. 



April 7, 1892 



146 



THE DEACONS. 

The Board of Deacons was not orgunized till 1867 and since then 
fifteen persons have been ordained to the Diaconate, to-wit : 
Messrs. Carter, Ellis, Jewell, Champlin, McNair, Sutphen, Dal- 
rymple, Ross, Milburn, Patterson, Carpenter, Gibson, Donaldson, 
Tracy, Curriden, Hervey S. Knight and T. J. Johnston. Messrs. 
Donaldson, Gibson and Tracy constitute the present Board. 

THE TEMPORAL COMMITTEE. 

Until 1868, the temporal affairs of this church were managed by 
a Board called the Temporal Committee. The records show that 
fifty-three different persons were, for a longer or shorter term, 
members of this Board and that for more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury Dr. William Guuton was its president. 

At the meeting of Session, December 28, 1815, steps were taken 
to organize a Temporal Committee, and the first Board consisted 
of David Bates, Daniel Rapine, Thomas Young, John Kennedy, 
John McClelland, William B. Mack and Andrew Coyle. Succeed- 
ing these were Timothy Winn, James Moore, Phineas Bradley, L. 
H. Machin, Eleazor Lindsley, John Underwood, Samuel Burche, 
Matthew St. Clair Clarke, William H. Campbell, Walter Lowrie, 
Joseph Stettinius, J. F. Caldwell, Leonidas Coyle, Daniel Campbell,. 
Alexander Shepherd, Dr. William Gunton, president of the Board 
from 1841 ; Silas H. Hill, Harvey Cruttenden, Henry L. Ellsworth, 
Dr. Harvey Lindsly, Edmund Coolidge, Thomas Blagden, John F. 
Clarke, William Fischer, David A. Hall, Charles D. Selding, C. S. 
Whittlesey, Willim H. Gilmam, A. W. Russell, A. Coyle, J. Under- 
wood, M. W. Gait, Y. P. Page, B. Milburn, J. Shillington, J. W.Webb, 
J. W. Colley. W. H.Jones, A. P. Hoover, F. H. Smith, Thos. Parker, 
G. M. Oyster, L. C. Campbell, W. S. Huntington and Robert Brown. 

During the existence of the Temporal Committee, the roll of 
treasurers of the church is incomplete, but the following names 
are preserved : Joseph E- Nourse, 1847, John F. Clarke, 1853, Will- 
liam H. Campbell, Chas Bradley, 1868, when the Board of Trustees 
was constituted. 

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 

In 1868, this church was the first in this District to obtain a 
special charter from Congress for the regulation of its temporal 
affairs, and at that time the Board of Trustees was constituted. 



147 



The Society of the church was more permanently organized and 
a series of by-laws adopted, which continue to the present time. 
Under this arrangement there have been six presidents of the 
Society or congregation, five clerks or secretaries and six treasurers, 
while thirty-two persons have, at different times been members of 
the Board of Trustees. There have likewise been seven stated 
clerks of Session and four secretaries and treasurers of the Board 
of Deacons. 

From the charter of that year it appears that the following per- 
sons were made corporators and the first Board, to-wit : F. H. 
Smith, O. C. Wight, N. H. Chipman, Albert Robinson, and Zenas 
C. Robbins. Subsequently came Z. D. Gilman, William M. Gait, 
F. H. Smith, E. M. Gallaudet, Z. C. Robbins, A. D. Robinson, W. 
Lay, P. E. Wilson, Ed. Temple, J. G. Patterson, J. B. Lockey, 
H. Fowler, T. T. Crittenden, E. B. Taylor, James L. Norris, Col. J. 
P. Low, John Bailey, Col. John R. McConnell, Irving Williamson, 
Charles L. DuBois, Capt. R. W. Tyler, W. B. Bryan, William H. 
Fletcher, William Jardine, Dr. G. F. Johnston, Dr. H. L. Mann, 
J. T. Marchand, H. S. Reeside, J. B. Wight, J. B. Cralle and Dr. 
William M. Newell. 

THE TREASURERS. 

The treasurers of the church from 1868 are as follows : Cordial 
Storrs, O. Knight, Wolcott Lay, William B. Gurley, C. E. Church, 
T. F. Sargent, Lloyd B. Wight and Charles L. DuBois. 

THE SEXTONS. 

For the last half century of the church, there have been three 
sextons, John Bell, John' Lee and Joseph Jones. 

THE ROLL OF MEMBERSHIP. 

The records show that upon the first reported number of church 
members, eighty-three years ago, there were thirty-five, and during 
the first half of the history of the church, that is, to the beginning of 
1853, they had increased to 269, the number on the roll at the latter 
date. But we cannot tell save by approximate estimate how many 
persons during the first forty or fifty years of the church had been 
enrolled and then been separated from our membership by the 
changes of those times. When the present pastorate commenced, 
on the first Sabbath in February, 1853, there were on the roll, 



148 



269 names. Since then there have been added 1,166 names 
of which number 1,051 have been removed by dismission, exclu- 
sion or death, leaving 361 as the number of members we have 
to-day. Of the 1,051 removed 170 have been removed by death, 
and of the number of church members who assembled in the 
church on that first Sabbath in February, 1853, there are only five 
who survive in the membership of the church at the present 
date — four women and one man. 

Were we, upon the basis of these figures, to make an estimate of 
the probable aggregate number of members who have from the 
beginning until now been placed upon our roll it could not be far 
from 2,000 ; while the number of pewholders, attendants and 
strangers who have worshipped here would run to thousands more. 

For the names of the communicants and for the marriages, bap- 
tisms, and deaths of individuals, the oflicial records should be 
consulted. 



CONDUCTORS OF CHURCH MUSIC. 

So far as can be ascertained there have been seven choir leaders 
and six organists, aided by male and female voices, at different 
times and under a variety of conditions. It is to be regretted that 
no full account has been preserved of the names of these assistants 
or of the members of the Music Committee of the church, under 
whose direction the church music has been from time to time 
directed. The names of the choir leaders are as follows : Messrs. 
Leonidas Coyle, A. S. Barnes, E. A. Smith, Horace J. Frost, L. H. 
Hayden, E. D. Tracy and Gabriel F. Johnston. 

The names of the organists are Messrs. Harry C. Sherman (now 
a doctor of music,) L,eonidas E, Coyle, Andrew C. Bradley, I*, H. 
Hayden, Mrs. O. D. La Dow, Thomas J. Johnston, Charles G. 
Woodward, Frank E. Ward, James W. Cheney. 

Among the singers who have at times greatly aided in this part 
of the public worship Miss Carrie Kidwell, Miss Zaidee Jones, 
Mrs. Bodfish and Miss Martha Dodge are gratefully remembered. 

The music of our public worship was rendered, for a time, 
by a male quartet consisting of Dr. G. F. Johnston as leader and 
Messrs. McFarland, Simons and Moore, with Mr. C. G. Wood- 
ward as organist. 



149 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND MISSIONARY OPERATIONS OF 
THE CHURCH. 

The story of this work is affecting beyond expression. To relate 
fully its pathetic and thrilling narrative would require a volume 
rather that a single discourse. The school was founded in April, 
1819, and was supported by an Association of the church from that 
time onward. 

During the first twelve years the work under the auspices of this 
Association was extended to the establishment of six other schools 
in different sections of the city and their report in 1831 showed a 
list of eighty-seven teachers — many of whom were from other 
churches — and 669 scholars. In 1831, however, the other churches 
seem to have withdrawn and taken up their own work, but our 
church still labored in its own school and its city mission work 
— the most prosperous period seeming to be from the years 1842 
to 1875. At the former date the Juvenile City Missionary Society 
was formed which gave support to the colporteurs of the American 
Tract Society till 1857, when it was proposed to employ a city mis- 
sionary and devote the school offerings to mission work at home. 
The first missionary employed was Mr. A. P. Johnson, a student of 
Union Seminary, under whom our mission Sabbath-school was 
formed and has continued to the time of the summer vacation of 
the present year. The successors of Mr. Johnson were Messrs. 
Noble, Cone, French, Page, Patch, Chase, Glover and Early — men 
who afterwards became ministers of the Gospel and widely useful 
in their several fields — one or two of them as faithful missionaries 
in far distant foreign fields. Of these Mr., now Dr. Patch became 
a member of our church, was the Superintendent of our Sabbath- 
school for several years, was chosen an elder in 1868 and ordained 
to the Gospel ministry in 1875, was for six years pastor of the East- 
ern Presbyterian Church, and is now the pastor of the Gunton 
Temple Memorial Church in the northwestern part of the city, 
where Mrs. Temple has erected for him a noble church edifice in 
memory of her lamented father and husband. 

Morning school superintendents are not named in the records of 
1819-1831. It is evident that the secretary, John Coyle, jr., was 
the leader and life of the school in that period of its history. No 
record of 1832-1849 has been preserved. Mr. William H. Camp- 
bell filled the office during a considerable part of the time. In 
1849 and since as follows : (1) Joseph E- Nourse, (2) Daniel 



150 



Campbell, (3) Dr. A. Speer, (4) O. C. Wight, (5) C. Storrs, (6) G. B 
Patch, (7) John B. Wight, (8) A. Lockhart, (9) E. Q. Knight, Wm. 
Jardine and A. E. L. Leckie. 

For a few years past the mission school has languished from 
many causes not necessary here to recite, and the time has now 
arrived when our City Missionary Society must take a new depart- 
ure for effective work. The names of the officers of our Sabbath- 
school operations of the teachers and pupils, amount in all to 
thousands and the reminiscences are more touching than many 
a tale of fiction over which a generation may have laughed or 
wept. 

Superintendents of mission school : (1) A. P. Johnson, (2) F 
Noble, (3) J. Cone, (4) S. F. French, (5) H. P. Page, (6) G. B. Patch, 
(7) T. N. Chase, (8) S. Early, (9) C. P. Glover ; city missionaries : (10) 
H. J. Frost, (11) T. F. Sargent. 

All these pass in succession before us, telling of the vast work 
which has been done by the noble men and women who have gone 
before us. In this work no less than three whole generations have 
come and gone, and the impressions made upon hundreds and 
hundreds of youthful minds have been borne away and moulded 
the life and character, more or less thus mingled, in far-distant 
communities, where those children of our church have wrought 
out their life mission and gone home to their reward, and where 
many of them who yet survive are still serving the cause of the 
Master of whom they first learned under the tutelage of this church. 

In connection with the mission work of this church weekly cot- 
tage prayer-meetings have been maintained in South Washington, 
and a Mother's meeting during the winter months. The names of 
the last six superintendents of our Sabbath School and of our mis- 
sion school, with the names of other officers are given above, so 
far as shown by the records. There have been eleven superintend- 
ents of the mission school, while of the Juvenile Missionary Society 
— subsequently styled the Sabbath School City Missionary Society. 
The officers whose names are preserved are as follows : 

1856 ; president, A. W. Russell ; vice-president, L. C. Campbell ; 
secretary, John A. Peebles ; treasurer, F. L. Moore. 1857 : presi- 
dent, Charles B. Dahlgren ; vice-president, Leonidas Coyle ; secre- 
tary, Charles Bradley ; treasurer, Albert Ebeling. 1858 ; presi- 
dent, John D. Edmond ; vice-president, William McLain ; secre- 
tary, Leonidas E. Coyle ; treasurer, Charles Bradley. 1859 ; same 



151 



as 1858. i860 ; president, William McLain ; vice-president, Iy. E. 
Coyle ; secretary, John D. Edmond ; treasurer, Andrew Brad- 
ley. 1861 : president, William M. Gait ; vice-president, J. D. 
Edmond ; secretary, Francis H. Smith ; treasurer, Charles S. Brad- 
ley. 1862 ; president, Lewis McLain ; vice-president, Erskine 
Sunderland ; secretary, Francis H. Smith ; treasurer, J. D. Ed- 
mond. 1863 ; president, Francis H. Smith ; vice-president, Ira 
Van Arsdale ; secretary, John N. Jennings ; treasurer, Horace J. 
Frost. 1864 : president, Charles C. Jewell ; vice-president, Wil- 
liam D. Todd ; secretary, William Hayes ; treasurers, Horace J. 
Frost. 1865 ; president, W. A. Thompson ; vice-president, Jerome 
Chase ; secretary, Charles C. Jewell ; treasurer, H.J. Frost. 1866 : 
president, Charles C. Jewell ; vice-president, George Milburn . 
secretary, Edward Schenck ; treasurer, H. J. Frost. 1867 ; presi- 
dent, William D. Todd ; vice-president, A. C. Klancke ; secretary, 
Edward Schenck ; treasurer, H. J. Frost. 1868 : same officers as 
in 1867. 1869 ; president, William D. Todd ; vice-president, F. B. 
Dalrymple ; secretary, Gabriel F. Johnson ; treasurer, H. J. Frost, 
1870 : same officers served as in 1869. 187 1 : president, William 
D. Todd ; vice-president, Theo. F. Swayze ; secretary, Gabriel F. 
Johnston ; treasurer, H. J. Frost. 1872 ; no meetings. 1873 : 
president, John B. Wight ; vice-president, George R. Milburn ; 
secretary, G. F. Johnston ; treasurer, H. J. Frost. 1874 ; same 
officers as in 1873. 1875 ; president, John B. Wight ; vice-president, 
Whitwell Wilson ; secretary, G. F. Johnston ; treasurer, H. J. Frost. 
1876 ; president, R. W. D. Bryan ; vice-president, Lloyd B. Wight ; 
secretary, Edson A. Lowe ; treasurer, H. J. Frost. 1877; same officers 
as in 1876. 1875 ; president, Irving Williamson ; vice-president, 
Edson A. Lowe ; secretary, Lloyd B. Wight ; treasurer, Hor- 
ace J. Frost. 1879 5 same as 1878. 1880 ; president, Edson A. 
Lowe ; vice-president, Thomas Johnston ; secretary, Lloyd B. 
Wight ; treasurer, Horace J. Frost. 1881 ; president, Edson A. 
Lowe ; vice-president, Theodore F. Sargent ; secretary, L. B. 
Wight ; treasurer, H. J. Frost. 1882 ; same as 1881. 1883 ; presi- 
dent, Theore F. Sargent ; vice-president, Fred Litchfield ; secre- 
tary, Lloyd B. Wight ; treasurer, H. J. Frost. 1884 ; same as 
1883. 1885 ; president, Theodore F. Sargent ; vice-president, Her- 
vey S. Knight ; secretary, Lloyd B. Wight ; corresponding secre- 
tary, Ramsay Nevitt ; auditor, J. R. McConnell. 1886 : president, 
Theodore F. Sargent ; vice-president, Hervey S. Knight ; secre- 
tary, L. B. Wight ; corresponding secretary, Ramsay Nevitt ; aud- 



152 



itor, E. S. Tracy. 1887 ; same as 1886. ib88 ; president, Theodore 

F. Sargent ; vice-president, H. S. Knight ; secretary, L. B. Wight ; 
corresponding secretary, Ramsay Nevitt ; auditor, J. R. McConnell. 
1889 ; president, Theodore F. Sargent ; vice-president, Hervey S. 
Knight ; secretary, Lloyd B. Wight ; treasurer, Irving William- 
son. 1890 ; same as 1889. 1891 ; same as 1889. 1892 ; president, 
Theodore F. Sargent ; vice-president, Edw. Q. Knight ; secretary, 
Harry Wilbur : treasurer, Irving Williamson. 1893 ; president, 
Theodore F. Sargent ; vice-president, Edward Q. Knight ; secre- 
tary, A. N. Dalrymple ; treasurer, William Jardine. 1894 ; same as 
in 1893. 

OTHER ASSOCIATIONS. 

In addition to these enterprises the ladies of our church have 
an association entitled the Ladies' Beneficent Association, with 
the purpose of rendering aid to our own church, and in other direc- 
tions for worthy and commendable objects. A principal feature of 
the Society is the social gathering at private houses, and the ten- 
dency of this to promote acquaintance with new-comers is very 
manifest. Their financial assistance has been extended in many 
ways, and the society is regarded as one of the most profitable 
agencies at work in the church. The number and names of the 
various officers of this Society are given below. The ladies have 
also two organizations for Home and Foreign Missions, and they 
are likewise represented in similar societies of the Presbytery and 
Synod. A number of our ladies are also interested in other direc- 
tions of Christian charity and beneficence, as in the McCall Mis- 
sion, the Italian Mission, the Protestant Orphan Asylum, the 
Young Women's Christian Home, the Newsboys' Home, the 
Washington Hospital and some others. 

President, through the seventeen years of the Society's existence, 
Mrs. O. C. Wight ; vice-presidents, Mrs. Ogden Wyckoff, Mrs. L. 

G. Hine ; secretaries, Miss Lizzie Johnston, Miss Virginia S. Gem- 
mill, Miss Mary C. Hine ; treasurers, Miss Julia Gilman, Mrs. W. 
B. Bryan, Mrs. H. L. Mann. 

PROMINENT ATTENDANTS. 

From the beginning to this day this church has been the resort 
of many prominent persons in all ranks of life who were either 
casual visitors or connected with us as members and communi- 
cants, or through members of their families. It is impossible now 



153 

to recall them all. I give only the names as they readily occur. 
The Clarks, the Coyles, the Bradleys, the Blagdens, the Caldwells, 
the Rapins, the Underwoods, the Whitwells, the Burches, the 
Browns, the Halls, the Crittendens, the Dangerfields, the Gun- 
tons, the Hyatts, the Smiths, the Moores, the Campbells, the 
Lindslys, the Pages, the Parkers, the Lenoxes, the Walkers, the 
Mahons, the Houstons, the Andersons, the Whittleseys, the 
Millers, the Waides, the Beals, the Johnstons, the Wrights, the 
Kelleys, the Gilmans, the Dahlgrens, and many others who came 
to the church during the present pastorate, and some of whom 
still remain. The church has also been attended or some times 
visited by such men as Henry Clay and many Senators, Repre- 
sentatives, and Judges ; Gideon, Seaton, John Quincy Adams, 
McLean, Ingle, Nourse, Gibbs, Wilson, Benton, Daniel Webster, 
Jackson, Polk, Pierce, Buchanan, Colfax, Edmunds, Morrill, Foote, 
Ramsay, McMillan, Grant, Cleveland, Morgan, Farewell, Chand- 
ler, Dodge, Strong, Drake, Jenks, Shifley, Benedict, and many 
others. 

OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH, CONGREGATION, AND 
SOCIETIES FOR THE YEAR 1894. 

It should be explained that the publication of this volume has 
been delayed until this time — February, 1896. In the last four 
years some changes have occurred. The Rev. Mr. Holmes having 
received a call to the Westminister Church of Buffalo, N. Y., sev- 
ered his connection with this church to accept it in September, 
1893, and the Rev. Adolos Allen was installed as co-pastor of this 
church April 17, 1894, and resigned February 3, 1896. Rev. Dr. 
T. DeWitt Talmage was installed as co-pastor October 23, 1895. 

The following tables show the officers and societies of the church 
for May, 1895-6. 

OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH IN 1895-6. 

Pastor. 

Rev. Byron Sunderland, D. D., . 328 C street N. W. 

Co-Pastor. 

Rev. T. 'De Witt Talmage, D. D., . . "The Arlington." 



154 



Otis C. Wight, 
Octavius Knight, 
Fred. B. Dalrymple, 
Alfred Lockhart, 
Theo. F. Sargent, 



The Session. 



306 Indiana avenue N. W. 
1327 Princeton street N. W. 
1704 Oregon avenue N. W. 

307 D street N. W. 
322 E street N. E. 



Clerk oe Session. 
Fred. B. Dalrymple. 



Treasurer of Session. 
Alfred Lockhart. 



Board of Deacons. 

Wm. B. Donaldson, Treasurer, . . 438 K street N. W. 

Edwin D. Tracy, . . . ^ 1508 9th street N. W. 

M. S. Gibson, ..... Forest Glen. 

Superintendents of Sabbath School. 
Wm. L. Jardine, . . . 155 California street N. E. 

A. E. Leckie, . . . 206 Indiana avenue N. W. 

Leader of Bible Class. 
Elder O. C. Wight. 

Superintendent of Infant Class. 
Mrs. C. M. Bodfish. 



Presidents of the Congregation Have Been— 

William H. Campbell, Dr. Lindsly, O. C. Wight, E. M. Gallau- 
det, J. R. McMillan, Clinton Lloyd and Dr. Wm. M. Newell. 

Clerks. 

F. H. Smith, C. Storrs, F. B. Dalrymple, S. W. Curriden, F. A. 
Fenning. 



155 



OFFICERS OF THE CONGREGATION FOR 1896. 



Dr. W. M. Newell, 

Frekerick A. Fenning, 
Charles L. Du Bois, 



President. 

Clerk. 
Treasurer. 



. 626 C street N. E. 

513 4th street N. W. 
1555 Park street N. W. 



Trustees. 

Capt. R. W. Tyler, Chairman, . . 1753 N street N. W. 

J. B. Cralle, Secretary, . . . 301 C street N. W. 

Win. H. Fletcher, . . . . 421 6th street S. W. 

Wm. Jardine, . . . 155 California street N. E. 

Dr. H. L. Mann, . . . 334 Indiana avenue. 

C L. DuBois, . . . . 1555 Park street N. W. 

F. G. Coldren, . . . 136 C street S. E. 

F. H. Tolman, . . . . 422 3d street N. W. 

Dr. W. M. Newell, . . . 626 C street N. E. 

Director of the Choir. 
Dr. G. F. Johnston, . . . 1762 N street N. W. 

Sexton. 

Joseph Jones, . . . . 218 B street N. W. 

Persons desiring to secure pews or sittings in the Church will 
apply to Capt. R. W. Tyler or Wm. H. Fletcher. 



SOCIETIES. 

Ladies' Beneficent Society. 

President, Mrs. L. G. Hine, . . . Prospect Hill. 

Vice-President, Mrs. N. G. Ordway, . 11 1st street N. W. 

Secretary, Mrs. Mary C. H. Nevitt, . 328 Ind. ave. N. W. 

Treasurer, Mrs. H. Iy. Mann, . . . 334 Ind. ave. 
With Sixty Members. 

Mothers' Meeting, conducted by Mrs. Peter Acker, with Mrs. 
Gilpin, Miss Mullican and others. 



156 



Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society. 

President, Mrs. G. F. Johnston, . . 1762 N street N. W. 
1st Vice-President, Miss Jennie Ramsay, . 328 Ind. ave. N. W. 
2d Vice-President, Miss Faith W. Tyler, . 1313 T street N. W. 
Corresponding Sec, Mrs. J. Ramsay Nevitt, . 328 Ind. ave. N.W. 
Recording Sec, Miss Irene Temple Bailey, . 510 I street N.W. 
Mrs. M. A. McBride, . . . 1330 18th street N. W. 

Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor. 
Senior Department. 
President, Frederick A. Fenning. 
Vice-President, Florence Mullican. 
Secretary, Alexander M. Bunn. 
Treasurer, Ella Luckett. 
Corresponding Secretary, Irene T. Bailey. 

Member of the Finance Committee of '96, Miss Etta Craigen. 

Active members, 53 ; Associate members, 10 ; Affiliate members, 
17 ; Total, 80. 

Junior Department. 
Superintendent, Miss Jennie Campbell, . 136 C street S. E. 
Assistant Superintendent, Miss Ella Haney, . 478 Pa. ave. N. W. 
President, Rastus Ransom Norris. 

Member of the Junior Finance Committee of '96, Rastus Ranson 
Norris. Active members, 25. 

Sabbath School City Missionary Society. 
President, Theodore F. Sargent, . . 322 E street N. E. 
Vice-President, Edward Q. Knight, . 1327 Princeton street N. W. 
Secretary, Alfred N. Dalrymple, . 1702 O street N. W. 

Treasurer, William Jardine, . 155 California street N. E. 

RELIGIOUS MEETINGS. 

Sabbath Morning Service, . . . . , 11.00 a.m. 

Sabbath Evening Service, . . . 7.30 p. m. 

Sabbath-School, . . . . . 9.30 a. m. 

Y. P. S. C. E., Sabbath Evening, . . . 6.30 p. m. 

Church Prayer Meeting, Thursday, . . 7.30 p. m. 
Communion, First Sabbaths of February, April, June, 

August, October and December, . . . 12.00 m. 

Preparatory Service, Thursday preceding Communion, 7.30 p. m. 



157 



Meeting of Session for receiving members at close of Preparatory 
Service. 

Baptism of Children at the beginning of Communion Service. 



OTHER STATED MEETINGS. 



The Church Session, the last Monday of each month, 


7.30 


p. 


M. 


*The S. S. City Missionary Society on the second Sab- 








bath of each month, ..... 


3-45 


p. 


M. 


The S. S. Teachers' Meeting, Thurday, 


6.30 


p. 


M. 


The Deacons' Meeting, Thursday evenings of Prepara- 








tory Service, ..... 


6.00 


p. 


M. 


The Board of Trustees, first Monday of each month, 


7.30 


p. 


M. 


*Xadies' Beneficent Society, second Wednesday of each 








month, ...... 


11.00 


A. 


M. 


* Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society sec- 








ond Monday of each month, 


11.00 


A. 


M. 


♦Mother's Meeting, conducted by ladies of S. S. City 








Missionary Society, Friday of winter months, 


2.00 


P. 


M. 


Summer hour for evening service, 


8.00 


P. 


M. 


♦Meetings omitted through the summer. 



CORRESPONDENCE OF FORMER MEMBERS 
OF THE CHURCH AND CONGREGATION. 



Lincoln, Neb., November 15, 1895. 

Rev. Adolos Allen. 

Octavius Knight, Esq. 
Theo. F. Sargent, Esq. 

Dear Friends : — Your kind invitation to attend a Centennial 
Celebration of the Organization of the First Presbyterian Church of 
Washington City, D. C, is received. I thank you for remembering 
me as one identified with the early history of the church, and still 
interested in its welfare. 

To say that I long to accept your invitation, would but feebly 
express my great desire to meet with you. The very suggestion of 
such a celebration recalls many sad and pleasant memories. As 
my first personal recollection of the dear old church does not date 
earlier than 1843, when the congregation worshipped in the building 
which it now occupies before it was remodelled, and, as I left Wash- 
ington while the changes were being made, my memory recalls 
only the old building with its yellow washed walls, mahogany 
pews and high pulpit, but dearer and more sacred to me than any 
magnificent cathedral of more modern style. The old choir too, 
where, for forty years my revered father accompanied the singing 
with his violincello, is as vividly before me as though I had listened 
to it but yesterday. 

If any portion of the old edifice was dearer to me than any 
other, it was the little brick " session room," as it was called — an 
annex in the rear of the church. It was there that we held our 
Sabbath school, weekly and missionary prayer meetings, the Juve- 
nile Missionary Society meetings, and the smaller gatherings of the 
congregation. Every brick in that little building was dear to my 
heart, and I can never cease to feel it was an honor and a privilege 
to have led the last meeting held there. 

I cannot begin to name all the dear familiar faces and voices 
which memory recalls in connection with the old church. How 
few of them remain. Though nearly all have been called to wor- 



2a 



ship in the Upper Sanctuary, I have been impressed, when reading 
the proceedings of the church the past few years, with the fact that 
so many of the old familiar names are still found among its mem- 
bers — children and grand children of the old and faithful members; 
proving that our God is a covenant-keeping God. 

My own connection with the church extended mainly over the 
period covered by the pastorates of Drs. Ballentine and Sunderland. 
I feel that my life has been moulded and guided by the truths then 
imbibed. Especially is this so of the time I enjoyed the ministra- 
tions of our present beloved pastor, Dr. Sunderland. To him and 
to my most faithful Sabbath school teacher, John C. Whitwell, 
I feel more indebted than to any other instructors of my youth. 

May God grant that we may be as faithful in our day and genera- 
tion as those who have gone before us, and that we may leave a 
memory as redolent of all that is pure and lovely and of good report. 
Sincerely and fraternally, 

Jno. I. Underwood. 

Grand Haven, Mich., November 18, 1895. 
Mr. Theodore F. Sargent, of Committee, 
Washington, D. C. 

Dear Sir : — Engagements otherwheres will account for this 
delay in acknowledging the kind invitation of your committee to 
be present at the Centennial Anniversary of the First Presbyterian 
Church, and birth of Presbyterianism in the City of Washington. 
Regretting inability to attend and personally exchange greetings 
with your venerable pastor, Dr. Sunderland, whom I knew only to 
revere and admire, as well as to renew acquaintance with yourself 
and other members of the church in which, for many years, I wor- 
shipped and shared vicissitudes, I cannot forbear extending hearty 
congratulations on the advent of a centennial memorial which sig- 
nalizes the remarkable growth and prosperity of Presbyterianism 
in the National Capital. 

Thrice welcome, and God bless and perpetuate the constant 
growth of a religious body whose stability of faith and catholicity 
of spirit make it the world-wide bulwark of enlightened Christi- 
anity. 

Sincerely yours, 

X, W. Ferry. 



3a 



Perrysburg, Ohio, November n, 1895. 
Mr. Theodore F. Sargent, of Anniversary Committee. 

Dear Sir : — I know of nothing that would give me so much 
pleasure as to accept your invitation to be present at your Centen- 
nial Anniversary. It brings to my mind some of the most pleas- 
ing recollections of my life. As I look back over a work of more 
than thirty years in the ministry, it seems to me that nothing I ever 
did was more highly appreciated than the work for the Juvenile 
Missionary Society of your church, during the years 1858-9. 

About the beginning of my vacation from theological studies, in 
the spring of 1858, I received, through Dr. Sunderland, an invitation 
to spend a few weeks in doing missionary work for the Society 
above named. He wrote that his young people had raised some 
money for home work and wanted some one to aid them in doing 
the work — just how, they did not know. I went to Washington 
and began the work of sytematic visitation among the poor and 
neglected. It was soon found that a large number were needy and 
many children who did not attend any Sunday School. It was 
proposed to start a mission school in the chapel of your church, 
and a goodly number of children were soon gathered each Sunday 
afternoon for instruction. And a noble band of young ladies and 
gentlemen volunteered to teach them. The school grew rapidly 
and prospered ; its work was much enlarged in the way of benevo- 
lence, and it was found that the few weeks of my vacation was too 
short a time, so I was induced to remain and continue the work for 
a whole year — when I returned to the Theological Seminary and 
completed my course of study. 

During the year 1858-9, I find on reference to a printed report 
of the Society's work — there was raised the sum of $841.36 ; and a 
good deal of interest was awakened, in fact, the young people were 
enthusiastic. Contributions not only through the Society, but 
individuals not connected with it sent me money and orders for 
shoes and other clothing and fuel to relieve the needy. I remember 
one good lady on D street sent for me and put in my hand $20.00 for 
this purpose. This was only a sample of the liberality manifested. 
A goodly number were brought to Christ through the faithful 
teachers of the Mission School. And after I had left Washington, Dr. 
Sunderland and others wrote me of the good work that was still 
carried on. Once, a poor child in Mrs. Johnston's class died, they 
wrote me, who was a devoted Christian and happy in her death* 



4a 



pleading with father and friends to meet her in Heaven. Whether 
that Society is still in existence I do not know, but I am sure it has 
a record on high for the work done for the Master to his little ones. 
A record that will stand forever. If it has any better record than 
it made while I was with it, then it must have much treasure laid 
up in Heaven. 

If you have the printed reports of the anniversary exercises of 
1858-9, you will find items of great interest to your people, and 
if those who participated in the work then are not with you now, 
may they not iu spirit rejoice in your continued prosperity, and, 
may not their successors be encouraged and stimulated to go on 
with the good work. 

Among the names of those who were either teachers or helpers 
in the mission work, I find Mrs. E. M. Sunderland and her daughter 
Laura ; Mrs.T. J. Johnston, widow of an elder ; Mrs. J. O. Mahon 
and her daughter Annie ; Misses May Coyle, Emma Coyle, Laura 
Coyle and Hattie Coyle ; Miss Laura Stetinius, Miss M. Miller, 
Miss A. D. Webb, Miss B. Naylor, Miss L.Hyatt; Messrs. H.J. 
Frost, M. W. Gait, B. Milburn, Leo Coyle, L. Edmund Coyle, W. 
M. McLain, Jno. I. Underwood, O. C. Wight, and many others. I 
see that I was made a life member of the Society. If it is still in 
existence, then I am now a member of it. 

May the Master be with you through all your anniversary exer- 
cises, and may the beloved Dr. Sunderland find that his last days 
are his best and be crowned with everlasting life in the kingdom 
of our Father. 

Sincerely yours, 

A. P. Johnson. 



Dallas, Texas, November 18, 1895. 
Mr. F. Sargent, Esq., Elder, &c, 

Washington, D. C. 

Dear Sir : — I thank you for your cordial invitation to attend 
the Centennial of the First Presbyterian Church, and deeply regret 
that I cannot be present. 

What pleasant memories your invitation recalled ; how I love to 
think of the old church in which I was christened sixty-eight 
years since ; and heard the words of truth and Christianity spoken 
with the earnestness of Mr. Post, Sprole and McLain, the pastors in 



5a 



my day. What pleasant memories hang around the old and sedate 
elders, Andrew and Leonidas Coyle, Mr. Campbell, and not forget- 
ting James Moore, who nearly every year brought a new Presby- 
terian to be baptized in the faith. They have long since gone to 
meet their reward for the good done on earth. 

I also recollect General Jackson and a long line of the great men 
of the nation that I then looked at with awe. 

But I am reminded that you request a " brief communication. " 
In the old family Bible I find that Mr. Sunderland married my 
youngest sister July 12, 1855. What a long and honorable service 
for a pastor to have ! He may well be proud of it. 

My father was a member, I think, for about forty years, and 
only left when he was unable to walk the distance, but gave his 
support to a struggling church near his home. 

I thank God that I was born a Presbyterian, am still one — a 
member of the First Church of Dallas — and hope to die one. And 
my only wish is that when God calls me from this earth, my re- 
mains may be buried alongside of the mother and father to whom 
I owe all the good I possess, and that the minister in charge of 
your church shall say the closing prayer over my remains. 

Thanking you for your remembrance and with the request that 
if your proceedings are published, you will send me a copy I 
am with great respect, 

John F. Cai^dwei,!,, 
the last survivor of the family of Josiah F. Caldwell. 

409 Young St. 



Bridgeton, N. J., November 11, 1895. 
Mr. Theodore F. Sargent, 

No. 322 E Street N. E. 
Dear Sir: — Thank you for the invitation to attend the Church 
Centennial Celebration that begins November 17th. I wish it were 
in my power to attend those meetings, but it is a busy time with 
me here. Everything pertaining to the old " Four-and-a-half Street 
Church " possesses great interest for me. Seldom is there a week- 
day, and never a Sunday, when my thoughts do not revert to former 
days when that church was so important a concern in my life. 

May you have a pleasant celebration, and may God's richest 
blessing continue with pastors, officers and people. 

Sincerely, 

Leonidas E. Coyi<e. 



6a 



Zanesviixe, Ohio, November 16, 1895. 

Mr. Sargent. 

Dear Sir :— I know but little of the earliest history of the Four- 
and-a-half Street Church, as it was then called, sixty years ago. 
I united with the church under the pastorate of Rev. Reuben 
Post, a holy and a just man. Messrs. Andrew Coyle, Wm. Campbell, 
John Coyle and James Moore, were elders ; noble devoted Chris- 
tians. Mr. Leonidas Coyle and Maria, son and daughter of Mr. 
Andrew Coyle, led the choir of beautiful sweet singers. How 
our feet hastened to hear those voices and the voice of our dear 
pastor. Those voices all stilled in death to us, but in the beyond, 
making melody in their hearts, and joining their sweet voices in the 
choirs of heaven. As my feet stand on the brink of 1 the river it 
seems as if the Heavens must open and I could hear their voices, 
which are so fresh in my memory. 

I cannot forget the church of my youth nor the city of my birth. 
Neither miles nor time can separate me from all that my heart holds 
dear, of scenes and associations connected with the church, which 
I love more and more as time in its flight brings so fresh to my 
memory. I shall always love and revere the First Presbyterian 
Church, and pray for its welfare. 

I thank you for your kind invitation to the Centennial Anniver- 
sary "of the dear old church. 

Yours respectfully, 

Anna M. Casy. 



Zanesvii^e, Ohio, November 18, 1895. 

My Dear Friends : — I wish that through ancestry I could claim 
a share in the planting of the church whose century of growth 
you now are celebrating. I can so claim a share in its early life 
and with my own memories and my mother's, can weave a chain 
of recollection stretching far back to the Sabbath days of that 
modest primitive temple of worship ; her uncle John Coyle was one 
of the early members and elders — his son, John, later an elder 
and precentor — Andrew Coyle, her father, and Leonidas, her 
brother, stand on the roll of elders — and my father, Dr. Alexander 
Speer — beloved as well in work of Sabbath School. 

In the "little white church under the hill" my mother heard 
her first sermons and mine were heard (?) from the capacious choir 



7a 



of the original Four-and-a-half street church in the midst of a family 
circle of singers — mother — aunts and uncles — one the leader for 
forty years. 

Indellible, the memory of that house ! The rich pulpit of polished 
rosewood with supporting pillars and winding stairs — its back- 
ground of scarlet damask hangings with shining eagle above. 

The holiest memory is of those Sabbath afternoons, when in the 
soft and fading light, the Supper of our Lord was ministered by 
men of God, whose very names were benedictions — the sweet and 
solemn service seemed a fitting preparation for the " Marriage 
Supper of the Lamb," where are now gathered all my own of that 
generation. 

We thank you for remembering us as linked by birthright as we 
are by affection — with the church of our fathers. They loved its 
courts with a loving love, its very walls were dear to them — its 
prayers their refuge — its songs of praise their joy and delight. 

The foundations were laid in purity of faith and simplicity of 
worship — and this mother church like the great apostle — has 
" fought the good fight," has " kept the faith " — but may she not 
"finish her work " for centuries untold, and may her children's 
children ever " rise up and call her blessed. " 

In the love of a sacred past, 

Affectionately yours, 

Maria Coyi,e Speer Andrews. 



Richmond, Virginia, November 21, 1895. 
Mr. Theodore R Sargent, 
Washington, D. C. 

Dear Sir and Brother : — Your invitation to attend the " Cen- 
tennial Anniversary of the beginning of the First Presbyterian 
Church of Washington, D. C," vvas duly received. I have been 
very anxious to be present, and entertained a hope that I might be 
able to attend the reception Friday night. I find, however, it will 
be impossible for me to do so. I have been sick for nearly two 
years and unable to attend to business for seventeen months and 
am just about to resume my regular duties. 

I love the dear old First Church. All my earliest recollections 
are connected with it. Rev. Reuben Post, D. D., married my father 
and mother. He baptized several of my sisters and myself. I 
was quite young when he left Washington, but his lovely face and 



8a 



kindly smile as he used to place his hand on my head and call me 
his " little missionary," are indellibly imprinted on my memory. 
I promised him that I would be a missionary, and have never for- 
gotten my promise, although providential hindrances made labors 
in the foreign field impossible, but the interest in that great work 
which he awakened in my young heart has never abated. I am 
only one of the many whose lives Jhave been influenced by that 
Godly man. 

I can never forget the grief with which we left the old church 
for a season when, in the wisdom of Presbytery, it was decided 
that a colony from each of the stronger churches, the First and 
Fourth, should go to the Second, to save that church from extinc- 
tion, and my venerable father volunteered to go from the dear old 
First. But though it was a great sorrow to us all, the Lord's hand 
was in it, and the noble New York Avenue Church, with the great 
work it is doing, stands as a monument to the wisdom of the move- 
ment. It was there that my only surviving sister and myself 
made our public profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and 
first sat down with our parents at His table. 

If our sorrow was great on leaving, our joy was no less great, 
when the work for which our father had left for a season having 
been accomplished, we returned to our old church home, where 
we remained until the hand of the Lord led us to another field of 
work for him, and we removed to the west end of the city to help 
in the organization of the Western Presbyterian Church. Thence 
we were called by the unfortunate war between the States to this 
city, to do whatever work the Lord might find for our hands in the 
United (now the Grace Street) Presbyterian Church, with which 
we have been connected for nearly thirty-four years. From this 
church our mother, Mary M. Moore, our sisters Margaret J. and A. 
Isabella Moore and brother, Edward D. Moore, and the wife, two 
grown sons and one grown daughter of the latter have been carried 
to their final resting place on earth, and their souls to eternal 
glory. Our two nephews had already done good work for the 
Master. One of them was cut down while doing home mission 
work in the swamps of Louisiana ; the other before completing 
his theological course, with a view to foreign mission work. It 
was his expectation to be one of the pioneers of the Korean Mis- 
sion of our Southern Presbyterian Church. Several of his class- 
mates were permitted to go, but the Master wanted him to join 
the blood-washed throng in glory. 



9a 



Another brother, with his only sister, is actively laboring in the 
Sabbath School and Christian Endeavor Society, in a church 
recently organized in one of the suburbs of this city. The 
youngest of the four brothers was received by East Hanover Pres- 
bytery at its last meeting as a candidate for the Gospel Ministry. 
The writer of this has had the honor of representing his church 
in Presbytery and Synod frequently, and once the Presbytery in 
General Assembly. These things are mentioned, not in a spirit of 
boasting or vain glory, but as some of the results of the work of 
the First Church. Our father was converted in that church, and 
served it thirty-four years in the eldership. Our mother was con- 
verted in the Bridge Street Church, Georgetown. It was under 
the pastorate of Post, McL,ain, Rich, Ballantine and Sunderland, 
in the First, and Knox, Smith and Eckard in the Second, that they 
labored and brought up their children ; and whatever of work for 
the Master their descendants have been permitted to do must be 
traced to the influence of the holy men of God who founded that 
church. 

Well do I remember the day, over fifty-four years ago, when the 
Juvenile Missionary Society was founded. How proud we boys were 
to be made Secretary or Vice-President ; and to be President gave 
us more pleasure than any honors which could have been conferred 
upon us in our later years. That Society has done good work. 
How many souls were saved through labors of its colporters in 
Texas only the records of eternity can reveal. 

Then the Maternal Association ! The Master Himself only 
knows what honor has been brought to Him through the prayers 
and labors of those dear mothers in Israel who used to meet 
to talk with each other and pray for the welfare and conversion of 
their children. The female prayer meeting, I trust it too is still 
continued. P'or years the house in which I was reared was the 
meeting place, and no storm of winter or heat of summer, was 
severe enough to prevent at least two or more Godly women from 
coming together to call upon Our Father for His blessing on the 
church which they all so dearly loved. Then we recall the homes 
and faces of four devotedly pious women, who for years used to go 
twice each week, Sabbath and Thursday, to the city jail and, shut 
up from two to three hours with its unhappy inmates, read the 
Scriptures and prayed with these unfortunate victims of vice and 
crime. Then there was dear old 4 ' Mother Knowles, ' ' who, like Anna 



10a 



of old, abode in the sanctuary, giving on the Sabbath, fully an 
hour before the time for service in the morning, and remaining 
till the close of evening worship. She, like Elijah, went to heaven 
in a chariot of fire. No finite mind can begin to estimate the 
blessings brought to the church and its families through her 
prayers. Their influence will never cease until the angel with one 
foot on the sea and the other on the land, shall proclaim that time 
shall be no longer. 

The Neighborhood Prayer Meetings. Not content with two 
regular services in the lecture room every week, prayer meetings 
were conducted by some of the elders in the then remote and desti- 
tute portions of the city. Many a stormy night has your corres- 
pondent, when a boy, most u?iwillingly carried a lantern in one 
hand, an umbrella in the other and accompanied his father to the 
West End Island, or English Hill, to a prayer meeting in some 
private house or school building. The Mission Sabbath School on 
English Hill was begun and continued by members of the First 
Church ; continued till that worst section of Washington was 
renovated and changed so that it was no longer needed. The Cen- 
tral Presbyterian Church is not far from the site of the old Mission 
School. 

When the Young Men's Christian Association of Washington 
City, the third in the United States, was organized, the First Church 
was prominent in the work, and the first secretary was a member 
of this church. The first Union Prayer Meeting of all denomina- 
tions held in Washington City, was held in this church in October 
or November, 1857. That it did much to bring the Christian peo- 
ple of the city nearer together than they had ever been before 
cannot be gainsaid. 

You asked me for a short communication, but in thinking over 
the past of our beloved church, it has been impossible to be short. 
Memory has run away with me. There is much more I could say 
if time permitted. But time would fail to mention all I would like 
to say of the long list of worthies whose names and forms now rise 
before me. Begging that you will present to our dear old pastor, 
Dr. Sunderland, our love and congratulations that God has per- 
mitted him to live to behold this day, I am, 
Very truly yours, 

J. Hai,^ Moqre, 

For himself and sister. Miss Rosa Moore, 



11a 



Stateburg, S. C, October 4, '95. 

Rev. Dr. Byron Sunderland. 

Dear Sir : — I have read with lively interest of your proposal to 
celebrate the Centennial of the First Presbyterian Church of Wash- 
ington. I have a strong and life-long attachment to that especial 
branch of the Church of our Lord. It was there that I became a 
member by baptism nearly sixty-six years ago. My father, Rev. 
Reuben Post, not William, was the pastor. He was a native of 
Vermont, a graduate of Middlebury College, and studied theology 
at Princeton. I think it was about 1820 that he received the call, 
his first charge, to the First Presbyterian Church in Washington, a 
small stone building, with parsonage attached, situated at the foot 
of Capitol Hill. Desiring above everything the prosperity of the 
church, and foreseeing the future growth of the Capital, it was 
under his leadership that the congregation determined to build a 
new edifice on Four-and-a-half street. This edifice was completed 
about 1827 ; for, as children, we were told that my brother, 
born May 1828, was baptized in the little brick church : and I, who 
was born November, 1829 was baptized in the new church on Four- 
and-a-half street. My father's pastorate though probably only 
half the length of your own, was next to yours, the longest of any 
exercised in that church. Then, as at the present time, Presidents 
and Members of Congress there united with the resident congrega- 
tion in Divine worship. I well recollect that President Jackson 
had a pew in front of our own — also Mr. Polk, member of Con-t 
gress, who was afterward President — and Mr. Henry Laurens 
Pinckney, member from South Carolina. There may have been 
many others. Between Mr. Pinckney and my father there sprung 
up a warm friendship, that led my father to resign the pastorate of 
his beloved church in Washington, on receipt of a unanimous call 
to the old historic church known as the " Circular " in Charleston 
of which church Mr. Pinckney was a member. 

An English family of the name of Blagden (they were parents of 
the Rev. Washington Blagden of Boston) were among the founders 
and supporters of the little brick church. I remember the name 
of Whitwell also — Mrs. Underwood (Aunt Christie she taught us to 
call her), and her sister, Mrs. Wm. Campbell, were devoted friends 
of my parents. During the forties I made several visits to Mrs. 
Underwood's family. They lived then in one of a row of brick 



12a 



houses on Capitol Hill. At that time the music of the church was 
assisted by the tones of the bass viol, that was played by Mr. Un- 
derwood. His wife was one of the singers. 

When visiting Washington in i860, I was pleased to recognize 
the identical pulpit in which my father officiated ; the original 
building was then being used as a Sunday School room. 

What a change has taken place in the intercourse existing be- 
tween pastors of different denominations in the District. I have 
heard my father say that the Rev. Dr. Keith, rector of an Episco- 
pal church in Alexandria, had preached in his pulpit ; and my 
father had preached in Dr. Keith's. They were personal friends ; 
and Dr. Keith had studied divinity, though an Episcopalian, in 
Princeton Seminary. The late Bishop Johns of Virginia, had also 
studied theology at Princeton. 

I beg pardon, dear Dr. Sunderland, for intruding so long upon 
your time and attention. I wished to correct a mistake in my 
father's name, etc. 

The friendship between Mr. Pinckney and Dr. Post was contin- 
ued by their children, and cemented by my marriage with the son 
of my father's friend. With sincere respect, 

Truly yours, 
Mrs. Henry L. Pinckney, 

nee Harriott h. Post. 



Washington, D. C, November 12, 1895. 

T. F. Sargent, Eso. 

Dear Sir : — In reply to your invitation to be present at the Cen- 
tennial Anniversary of the First Presbyterian Church during the 
coming week, I reply that I will be present as often as I can. 

I love the old mother church within whose folds I was received 
nearly fifty years ago, when I was but a boy, and shall always 
rejoice to hear of her prosperity. May God bless you all and 
make you perfect in good works. 

Respectfully yours, &c, 

B. R. Mayeiei,d. 



13a 



Hamline M. E. Church, 

Washington, D. C, November 18, 1895. 

Theodore F. Sargent. 

Dear Sir and Brother : — I shall take great pleasure in attend- 
ing the Centennial Anniversary of the First Presbyterian Church 
of this city, an invitation to which is just at hand. I rejoice with 
you in the fact that though the old tree has shed its leaves and 
changed its bark many times during the past century, it is still so 
green and strong. Age is honorable, but age with growth and vigor 
still remaining, especially in case of a church, is most inspiring. 
Fraternally yours, 

E. S. Todd. 



E Street Baptist Church, 
Washington, D. C, November 18, 1895. 

Mr. Theodore F. Sargent. 

Dear Sir : — I am in receipt of invitation to attend the Centennial 
Anniversary of the beginning of the First Presbyterian Church 
of Washington, D. C, and of the beginning of Presbyterianism 
in this city, and in reply would say that I regret that engagements 
in connection with the annual gathering of the Columbia Baptist 
Association will prevent me from participating in the exercises of 
this celebration as I would wish to do. I hope, however, to be 
present at the reception on Friday evening next. 

Permit me to extend hearty congratulations on the noble record 
which your church and denomination has made in this city. A 
record most honorable and in every way worthy of consecrated 
imitation by others. 

Permit me also to wish for your beloved and long-time pastor, 
Rev. Dr. Sunderland, whose ministry has been freighted with so 
much good, not alone to Washington but to the nation at large, 
years of blessing and prosperity among the people he has served so 
faithfully for well nigh half a century. 

I rejoice in the work accomplished and the successes achieved 
by the Presbyterian Church for the spread of our common Lord's 
Kingdom and the salvation of our fellowmen. 

Fraternally, 

J. J. Muir. 



14a 



Washington, D. C, November 18, 1895. 
Committee on Centennial Anniversary of the First 
Presbyterian Church. 
Dear Brethren : — I would add my congratulations to those 
which spring from the hearts of the many who honor your church 
and its pastors. The history of the First Presbyterian Church is 
interwoven with the development of not merely this city, but of 
our nation. There is one incident in its history which forms a 
pleasant tie ivith the church with which I was connected, namely, 
each celebrated the Lord's Supper in the Capitol — the only times 
that this sacrament was administered within its walls. 

May the past success of the First Presbyterian Church be a 
prophecy of its future achievements for God and humanity. 
Fraternally yours, 

John Chester. 



Wesley Chapel, 
Washington, D. C, November 19, 1895. 
Mr. Theo. Sargent, Elder, &c, 

Washington, D. C. 

Dear Sir : — In response to your committee's invitation to attend 
the Presbyterian Centennial Celebration, I regret that I am hin- 
dered from being present. Engagements in my own church every 
night this week demand my attention. 

I congratulate the great Presbyterian Church on the splendid 
work of the hundred years ; but especially that of the closing 
decade and the auspicious outlook upon the new century. I 
rejoice in your success. Your success is ours. We are laborers 
together with God. If we are true to the spirit of our Divine 
Master there is no place for jealousy or envy between the Presby- 
terian and the Methodist Churches. Each has its providential mis- 
sion. While some other denominations are pining for a union 
against which they raise impassible barriers, our branches of the 
Church of Jesus Christ may illustrate a true unity by a real Chris- 
tian sympathy and brotherly co-operation. 

God speed you in your work ! When the next century of your 
church life shall be celebrated, and the capital shall number mil- 
lions in its borders, may there be hundreds of thousands of brave - 
hearted loyal Presbyterians rejoicing together. 

Yours fraternally, 

Charles W. Baldwin. 



15a 



JOHN F. HURST, 
Bishop of M. E. Church. 

Washington, D. C, November 20, 1895. 
Mr. Theodore: F. Sargent. 

My Dear Sir : — I have received your kind invitation to be pres- 
ent at the meetings in commemoration of the Centennial Anniver- 
sary of the founding of the First Presbyterian Church in Wash- 
ington. Unfortunately my engagements are such as to take me 
out of the city. 

I heartily congratulate the pastors, elders, and members of the 
First Presbyterian Church on the arrival of this important anniver- 
sary. The Presbyterian Church has always stood in the forefront 
of an aggressive, religious and national life. Its record in the old 
country continued in America has been worthy of all honor, and it 
cannot be doubted that the story of the coming centuries will be 
of the same noble quality. Trusting you may have a delightful 
series of meetings, I remain, 

Yours sincerely, 

John F. Hurst. 



Executive Mansion, 
Washington, November 20, 1895. 
My Dear Sir : — The President directs me to acknowledge the 
receipt of your kind invitation to attend the meetings and recep- 
tion given in connection with the celebration of the beginning of 
Presbyterianism in this city, and to say that he greatly regrets that 
in consequence of the pressure of official matters of importance he 
finds it impossible to be present. 

Very truly yours, 

Henry T. Thurber, 

Private Secretary. 

Theo. F. Sargent, Esq., 

322 E Street N. E., 1 
Washingion, D. C. 



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